Running Up a Hill
by Why Fireflies Flash
Summary: I stared at the door in disbelief before I slowly turned my head. The door slammed on its... on its... own. The thought of that made me shiver. Loki skimmed his hand on my dresser with a smug smirk on his face as he gestured around my room with his other hand. "Shall we talk arrangements?" Loki/OC Rating may change. Please R
1. The Plot of a Con

_**So… I had been working on this story for a while and I was trying to remain strong and not post it, but I couldn't help it. I had that itch. Well, this is my first Loki/OC fic and I am sort of scared, I guess? But, I hope you enjoy it! I have at least five chapters written up of it and if you guys like it I'll continue posting it! :)**_

_**Running Up a Hill: My name is Alexandra Marie Harmon. I am twenty-four years old. I am part of the lowest of the low in Chicago and deserve to have a slap to my mouth time to time. I am a con woman, who got conned, and I only wanted answers… Well, for your information, Loki Laufeyson gave me more than that. Loki/OC**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I wouldn't be here if I did. I would be on my own private island sipping a nice margarita or something. However I do own my OC, Alexandra, and other characters that you do not recognize, along with the plot.**_

* * *

_The Plot of a Con_

I looked up from my corner, the night blanketing the windy city as the loud sound of my cards shuffled together. The sound reminded me of my time last week in Vegas and brought a taunting smile on my face. A bowl of bills and change was settled next to me. I maybe had earned eighty dollars from my endeavor of the day, which was considerably good since I stood out here in the cold, alleyway for at least an hour. The fire rising from a nearby tin of trash kept me warm—somewhat, there was a few homeless people around it in rags that it was warming first.

The game I played started with a bet of ten dollars. You had to find the Queen of Hearts, which wasn't hard to do the first time around. Then, I made it double. They would know my game and how I played it first and thinking that they would get me again, they do it. Needless to say, I was unbeatable the second time around.

"Are you ever going to give this up?" One homeless man had asked me. I acknowledged him only by raising my eyebrow. "Some people are touchy when it comes to money." I actually had come to know this one while standing here. His name was Ty, lost his factory job a while back and sometimes I'd give him money out of my pot for staying with me. He wore rags that hung loosely on him and he looked like he hardly ate. He was a nice man and I enjoyed his company very much.

I retorted, "No shit, Sherlock. That's the fun of it." Since I was younger, I enjoyed making people despise me—no, that didn't sound right, I enjoyed lighting a fire under people's asses—not literally. Sorry, those were bad analogies. It was always a joy that came over me seeing people get hot and bothered—I was the class clown in my school's superlatives. Ty shook his head at me disapprovingly before rubbing his hands.

"You're young, don't spend your time with low lives in the street." He said to me with a scowl on his face. I swear, sometimes he acted like a father to me. He was a father once, I knew that, but he wasn't mine. "Get a real job."

"I have one, this is for fun." I told Ty honestly. My day job didn't involve this and currently, in my present state, my day job didn't want me. They wanted a girl with a pretty, unscathed face. And right now, I still had bruises on my cheek and a split lip that didn't heal right away because I bit it all the time. "Why are you complaining? I give you at least half of what I earn."

"I've seen people do this for years." He told me, almost sounding wise. I looked away from him, almost as if I knew where this was going. "They end up _dead_."

"I'm flattered that you care about me, but my business is my business." I didn't bother looking up as the sound of my cards cut through the air. The sound was thick and it almost made me shutter in the cold. I could feel Ty's brown eyes on me for a brief moment before they looked away. I wouldn't have ended up dead. No one was that touchy with money unless it was with drugs.

I wasn't dealing drugs, last time I checked. I was doing a card trick.

Another man, his name was George, then said to me, "What you mean you give him half of what you earn?"

George was taller than me by a foot. He was definitely 6'5' and his build wasn't much. He was a stick compared to many his height. George didn't come here frequently; in fact, this was the third time I saw him around. "Exactly how that sounds." I said smartly, shuffling my cards still.

"You weren't planning on giving us any? We're down on our luck just as much as _he_ is."

"I'll give you all a share of what I earn then." I said, ending it quickly. This was an argument I didn't want to get into. Money was a touchy subject; some of these people didn't care for it. But the share that the four there would get would barely be enough for a whole meal. But the night was still young, I would most likely stay here for two more hours and then we would see how much I would earn.

George had shut up at that. Ty looked up at me and for once, I thanked the fact that the only light we had in this alley was from the fire and a lamp on a wall behind me. He couldn't see what happened to me, which was good enough for me because he was blind as a bat anyway. I didn't need to explain my 'battle wounds' as I liked to call them.

The cards in my hand slapped together and on the sidewalk, I caught someone walking slowly. His eyes roamed around him curiously and he looked like he was lost. "Hey!" I bellowed out after a moment. I noted that he was only wearing a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt. It was hardly suitable for this night, really. It wasn't snowing, but it was freezing. I had to make it a point to actually bring my jacket with me out tonight. The man stopped in his place and his head slowly turned to me. He tilted it slightly.

Ty managed to groan, not bothering to look behind his shoulder. "Yes, you there. Are you a bit lost?"

"Where am I?" He asked me from where I was. I raised my brow at him and noticed how he swayed slightly where he stood. I thought he was drunk at first and that was perhaps the best news of the night. Drunks were easy bait. "Answer me." He said to me more forcibly, but not moving toward me.

I taunted with a smirk, "Come here and I might." It took him a bit. The glare I had received from Ty did not go unnoticed by me as the footsteps of this man approached. That was when I realized that this man wasn't even wearing a pair of shoes. It made me shiver just from the cold this man might have felt and just as I thought that, a brush of cold air played with my hair. I lived in the windy city and the wind here always happened to be cold.

The woman with the homeless men spared me a glance before giving this man the once over. There was something in her once over that wasn't clear to me, but I noticed something glazing over her eyes. He asked me again, but this time more forcibly than before, "Where am I, Midgardian? You are trying my patience." What did he just call me?

I raised my brow at this before I told him, "Midtown." I didn't think I even wanted to know what a 'Midgardian' was.

"In the middle of _what_ town? Your answer is too vague." He spoke like he was of royalty, something out of a Shakespearian play—or the Shakespearian plays that I have read. I stared at him for a moment before gathering the cards in my hand. I didn't really like his tone of voice, to be quite honest. He talked down to me and this wasn't because he almost matched the height of George, it was mostly because—well, I thought so anyway—that he thought he was above me, yet he wasn't even wearing a pair of shoes. I didn't answer him right away. "I have no time for your insolence."

"Chicago. You are in Chicago." I said to him, setting my jaw. I didn't like him already and this could go one or two ways. I could just leave him at that or play with him for a little while. But the fact that he called me a word I didn't understand and said what I was doing was 'insolence' made my first impression of him not good. There was no need to be rude. Even if someone was about to hustle you, you should be nice in case they'd take mercy against you. "It's awfully chilly out here, you could catch a cold."

"It does not affect me like it may you." He said to me bitingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I can see that," I retorted. I made my split second decision then, not really noticing how the man was eying my hands as I was smoothing my cards out on my makeshift table. "But since you are wandering around like a lost pup, do you want to pass the time with a little game I made up?"

"_Game_?" The disdain in his voice was plain to hear. "I have no time for your mortal games."

"Oh, but it's easy and no one has really beaten me yet." I gestured over to the bowl. Now that the man was closer to me, I noticed his sharp, facial features. He was extremely pale and though he looked to be thin, I could faintly see the muscle lining his arms. He had dark hair reaching to about his shoulders and faint green eyes. He barely even glanced over at the bowl full of my earnings, but I did see his eyes light up when I said no one has really beaten me.

He considered me for a moment and I noticed how his eyes stopped at the bruising on my face. I looked at him directly in his eyes as I took my Queen of Hearts and two other random cards. "And think of it this way, I'll do something special for you. I'll give you all of what is in the pot if you beat me in two rounds." From the corner of my eye, I saw Ty's head pick up at the sound of that. "You could even buy yourself a new pair of shoes with that money."

"Am I right to say that you require some sort of… currency for this little 'game' you have?" Oh, he was smart.

"Well, the money there isn't my own. I won it fairly." I heard a scoff come from the fire and it took all of my will to not shoot a glare over at him. "All is fair in this game."

"The old man does not seem to think so." He replied to me, his gaze locking with mine as if he was trying to see right through me. I was going to kill Ty after this if it wasn't going to go well.

"You wouldn't think the game to be fair once the opponent won either." I said quickly, hoping that would be enough to seal the deal. I licked my bottom lip nervously, my tongue glazing over the split in my lip and stinging it slightly. It wasn't going to heal right. "But, you seem very worthy to play and I suspect that you are about to play me."

"How much exactly do you want for a game?"

"I like you, so I think I'll give you the five dollar discount." I said to him slowly, flipping up my cards so that I could explain the game to him. He looked at me curiously before I clarified, "Five dollars. If you want to go about it again, ten." We stared at each other for a moment before his hands went behind his back. I wasn't sure what he was doing until he pulled out a five dollar bill from behind there. I honestly didn't think that this guy had money on him. He patted it down on the table.

"Explain it." He practically demanded it of me.

"You have to find the Queen of Hearts after I mixed them." I fixed my sleeve and flexed my fingers. "We go one round, and then another, and then another. If you win two of those, then you win the whole pot. If you don't, then I take your money and you'll have a chance to do it at the regular price." It was the oldest con in the book, everyone knew it and if you didn't you were an idiot. But since everyone knew this classic, they still tried to beat the person dealing the challenge. It was like the shell game, to be honest, but I enjoyed my cards a lot more.

The man looked up at the dark sky for a moment, murmuring something along the lines of, "You petty humans," I furrowed my brow at that as he decided to look back at me. "I accept this challenge of yours with great pleasure, mortal." That pleasure was going to disappear soon enough.

"This mortal is called Alexandra, also called Alex." I said to him, "But I am glad you accept my challenge, my liege." I mockingly added, bowing my head slightly to the man. I noticed a scowl pull at his lips and I took that as my cue. "I'd pay attention if I were you." I started to him, taking my eyes off of him to focus my attention with my cards. I felt his eyes still on me.

I swallowed thickly and went over quickly in my head as I did every time. I always had to get my practices in my head in order to get them right. And then, I proceeded, going about the cards in a slow way, flipping them over while doing so. The man's eyes went from me to the cards, several times as I moved them slowly and gently. The Queen of Hearts didn't move until the very end and when I finished I looked up.

He seemed to be expecting more out of me. He stared at the three cards for a moment before his eyes matched mine. I smirked at him. "This is all too obvious."

"It always is obvious." I told him honestly. "But you'd be surprised how many people get it wrong."

"It is the one to your left." The man had pointed out to me. My eyebrows perked at that and I flipped the card to reveal that he was right. "If that is your game, then I am really wasting my time and patience on it."

"We have another round." I informed him honestly. "And it gets harder by the rounds, don't worry."

"We shall see then," he said to me, his face was expressionless.

I smirked to myself before I looked down at my cards, flipping the Queen to face downward. The man in front of me tilted his chin as I took the cards on either end. The routine was the same every time and I practiced it to a tee. I had to do this one fast because of the bigger stakes. Even though, there was no changing in my methods. I moved the cards around, quickening my pace from last time by a lot and my hands were a blur as they worked on the makeshift table. I didn't know if the man's eyes were really on the cards or on me because he kept glancing back and forth. But I took the chance of swapping my Queen with the card under my sleeve and then placed it in the middle.

With one final switch of cards, I looked up at him. His face was genuinely tight with concentration as he looked at the cards. "I'm waiting," I taunted him with a crooked grin. He glanced up at me before pointing to the middle card. I could have laughed at him.

"Are you certain?"

"More than certain." The man looked up at me, picking up his head and he matched my crooked grin as if he knew something that I didn't. I furrowed my brow at him confused before I went to the middle card, and almost apprehensively, I flipped it. My eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.

Shit… That was… that was the card under my sleeve. My mouth parted in shock and immediately I went to feel the end of my sleeve to feel the hard card under it. I knew I swapped them too. I made sure I did.

This was… this was impossible!

The man took glory in watching my face contort. "You have said that no one has ever beat you in this sort of game?"

"I—."

"Hmm, how interesting." The man said, a smug look coming over his face. I tried to close my mouth to not look like a gaping fish, but it was difficult. He glanced over to the pot of money next to me. "Well, I suppose that this is mine now. You could keep the one I have given you, maybe you could buy yourself a new pair of shoes."

"How… how nice of you." I managed to say, my eyes on my pot of money. He took it within his hands. The man that was so demanding and rude before actually seemed quite pleased with himself now. He knew what he was doing with me. But I didn't understand how what happened actually happened. I didn't stop him from walking away with my money. I just watched his retreating figure in shock.

Ty looked up at me with his face twisting. "How—?"

I stopped him short, bringing myself out of my temporary stupor. "What the fuck?" I asked myself, looking down at my cards and flipping them all to see a sight I didn't expect to see. "That's…"

"Alex…" Ty started, stepping away from the fire to come over to me. My eyes were stuck on the cards to see that they all resembled the same one. Ty came over to me and by the time he did, his eyes glazed over the three cards confused. I took out the Queen of Hearts—the original Queen of Hearts—and stared at it. "You didn't do that, did you?"

I slowly shook my head. Now I really did look like a gaping fish as my hand skimmed each one. "No… I-I didn't. This is impossible."

"Great job, Harmon! You lost us our money!" George shouted, not paying attention to the current situation. Ty gave him a reprimanding look before I took each card in my hand. I did whatever I possibly could to see if it was real. I flapped the card in the air, I scratched it, and I even smelled it. They even smelled of my cigarettes that I rarely smoked.

I repeated again, "Impossible."

"The con woman got conned." Ty commented. "Maybe that would be a lesson to ya." A scowl toward him appeared on my face as I gathered my cards. Whoever this man was, not only did he ruin my deck forever, he also conned the wrong con. And I was more upset because I didn't know how he had done it. Lately, my tricks hadn't been up to par, proving that from last week, but I had _never_ messed this up. "What are you doing?"

I put the cards back in their box and was about to pick up my bowl to remember that it was no longer there. My mind was racing with both anger and confusion. My deflated pride wanted to get my money back. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"You aren't seriously going to go after a man who has took your money fairly."

"He hasn't taken it fairly," I said to him flatly, picking up my purse and dropping my cards inside of there. "He _cheated_."

"Like you were doing to get his money."

"No, I wasn't cheating," I said to him walking around my table to go down the alley. I turned on my heel to face him while walking backward. "What I was doing and what he was doing are two different things." I still cannot tell you the difference, but then I thought, sure as hell I thought, there was a difference. Before Ty could even respond, I turned around and walked down the alley.

"How do you expect to find him?"

"Keep the five!" I shouted, ignoring the question. It was a dumb question anyway. The man didn't even know that he was in Chicago. I doubted that he was far from us. With that thought, I walked down the block, my eyes searching around it to find the man, looking in the store windows while just trying to spot him on the sidewalk. I lowered the speed of my pace by the time I stopped at Payless, my heart was beating against my chest and I felt the heat rise up to my cheeks.

I huffed loudly, hoping that some of my anger would be released through that, but it wasn't. I had the wool pulled over my eyes and that wasn't supposed to happen. I would have rather got my ass kicked by him for doing what I did, not be outsmarted by a man who had the same length of hair I did.

I leaned against the store window, my eyes searching the street. "Beg pardon," the smooth voice came from behind me, and its smoothness reminded me of silk. My eyes widened, surprised with how close his voice was to me. I felt his breath hit my ear. Gulping, I stood where I was as he went on, "I believe you are looking for me."

I looked behind my shoulder and almost immediately my body was pushed against the store window. I yelped surprised with the amount of force he held me with. There was barely anyone on the streets because of the time and his hand inched its way to my collarbone. His touch made me breathe in sharply and I was faced with his green irises. "You actually thought that a mere mortal like you could pull one over me."

"I… I have a name, stop calling me that." I told him my name, didn't I? I didn't understand why he kept calling me 'mortal' or 'Midgardian'. My name was Alexandra and I wanted to be called that, Alex was also fine too.

He ignored me, "I do admire your efforts at trickery." I looked at him carefully, going through the sentence in my head. Who would say those things? No one talked like that any more! "But… for you to actually _think_ that you could trick the God of Mischief, an Asgardian Prince, you are a fool."

What? He gritted his teeth at me angrily, waiting for me to reply but I was awfully confused. I looked at him for a moment with a furrowed brow. His face was inches away from mine and now that I see it, I could connect it to something. "Are you going to say anything or are you just going to gape and stare at me?"

The question asked brought me to the moment, but the nagging familiarity of him was still bothersome. I tried to dismiss it and think back to the God of Mischief and Asgardian Prince. Both of those things were part of stories that I had learned when I was a child. "Asgard?" I asked him unsure, which resulted in me actually being pushed harder against the glass window. Any further, and I think I would have been pushed right through. "The place doesn't exist."

"Are you sure about that?" A devilish smile came on his face and it made his eyes cast a shadow. His eyes were so sunken in. I stared at him, still trying hard to place him. "For someone who had so many words to say before, you are awfully quiet now." He noted to me, his brow being furrowed toward me curiously and the smile on his face faltered slightly.

"That's because I think you're insane. You're telling me you're from Asgard and are… no…" I said after a brief moment. My face actually fell when I look over him and I no longer cared for the fact that he took my money over a trick he pulled over my own. The face, now that it was this close, now that I had seen the shadow of his eyes, was a face I was more than unlikely to forget. His hold lightened on me and he tilted his head up to look down at me. I shook my head at him, almost like I wanted to deny the obvious fact, "You aren't…"

"Oh, so you do know of me?" He asked me, his eyes lighting up for a moment. My breathing had become shallow and my chest rose slowly. I didn't take my eyes off of him, but I was sure that he could smell the fear coming off of me. The smile came back and I heard a chuckle escape from him. Mockingly, he noted, "How _quaint_."

"Let me go," I said to him quickly. The anger flushed itself out of me and fear replaced it firmly. "Please, let me go."

"And why should I?" He asked me, "You were so determined to talk to me before but now that I have your attention, you would rather not have mine."

"You… you were the one that destroyed New York. You _killed_ all those innocent people." I told him, remembering his face on my television, remembering wanting throw something at the newscaster because I wasn't getting enough information. I remembered how the camera flashed to his face, showing it for at least a minute on top of the Stark Tower. I swallowed as he leaned in close to me, his hand still firmly on my collarbone. "I-I saw you… on the news… several times actually."

"You are an observant one, I could tell." He said to me in almost a hiss. "I am Loki of Asgard, the God of Mischief, and you are nothing but a mere mortal, what do you think is going to happen now that you have recognized me?"

"H-Hopefully not what I think is going to happen." I mustered out.

"I could snap your neck right here," he warned me.

"But you wouldn't do that," I started to him quickly. _Pray tell,_ the voice in my head interjected. Admittedly, I did say that without any thought at all. He looked at me curiously; his eyebrow rose like he was amused by me.

I plucked one of the possible reasons out of my head and said it. "You just said that you admired my efforts at trickery…" _Are you dumb_? I added immediately after, talking fast, "And we are out in the open and I know you're smart, to orchestrate that attack on your own in New York. This store has cameras somewhere outside of it, recording this and if they see you snap my neck, they'd be looking for you. It would be a stupid move on your part."

That was more logical. I held his gaze for a lot longer, longer than it should have been because soon his hand was dropped and he stared at me, taking a step back. I could almost hear a growl from deep in his throat. The man who claimed to be Loki, the God of Mischief, said to me, "And now that you know who I am, what do you suppose you are going to do about it?"

"I'm—."

"You are not going to tell anyone about me," Loki said to me with a shake of his head. He put a finger to his mouth before stating, "If you do… tell a soul, I will have to kill you then and you strike me as the type who enjoys her life."

"I won't tell on you." I told him, shocking myself. Was I going crazy? "I just want to know how you did that back there."

"I am a God." Loki answered me swiftly, but the chuckle he added sounded uncertain, almost as if he didn't know the answer himself. "You needn't to ask how I have—."

"Your face back there begged to differ." I said to him quickly, remembering the surprise he had on his face when he produced a five-dollar bill and gave it to me. I didn't realize it until then though. I wasn't paying attention to him when I was trying to play him, but I could have sworn that I saw a look of surprise on his face. "And you changed all of my cards to Queens, mind you. You ruined my deck."

"I never did such a thing."

"You are the God of Mischief, it wouldn't surprise me. The actual card was hidden underneath my sleeve." I retorted to him coldly, mockingly also, throwing the card that was still in my sleeve at his face. It barely even made it there and instead it went against his neck, barely leaving a scratch on it. "You cheated… somehow."

"All was fair in the game. You weren't exactly clear on the _rules._"

The glare I gave him was scornful and a deep hatred came to my gut. Now, I understood how it was like when your system was beat. Last week, when I counted cards, I didn't understand it. I was as smug as he was while they beat me _after_ I had gotten caught. But now _my _game was beat, by him, and I wanted to hit him. He noticed this, of course, and he ventured a step toward me. I involuntary took a step away from him.

He laughed at this, pointing a finger at me and tilting his head to the side. "I am not going to bring harm to you."

"I somehow doubt that."

"Well… I will not bring harm to you_ yet._" Loki admitted to me after a moment and that made me even more anxious. I straightened my shoulders. We stood there in silence for a moment. "I do, however, require your assistance."

"I'm not one to assist terrorists, so sorry." I said to him with sarcasm. My arms crossed over my chest. I should have walked away, I should have walked away and left him there, no matter what had just happened in the alley. But I was frozen in my place. I couldn't do anything other than stand there and look at him.

Loki looked at me calculatingly before I saw his jaw move. I noticed then how sharp his jawline was. If he was right about being a God, I could see it through his sharp features. If I wasn't smart, I think I would have believed he was when he told me at first. "Are you really so certain of that?"

It was a strange question and I realized that I asked him the same thing before I revealed the Queen he so happily picked. Was he mocking me? Or was I so paranoid that I thought he was mocking me? My eyes locked with his before my jaw shifted and before I knew it, I was leading the insane man to my apartment that wasn't too far away.

* * *

_**So, did you like it? Hate it? Despise it? Utterly despised it? Or… love it, maybe? I hope you did. Thank you for reading the first chapter! I hope I wrote Loki right, and if I didn't, let me know on what I could approve on :). If people enjoyed it, I'll definitely keep posting this fic (kinda seeing how people think of it right now...) **_

_**Thanks again for reading!**_


	2. The Asgardian Prince

_**I was going to post this tomorrow, but I decided to do it now because of the response I had gotten. Thank you to everyone that had followed/favorited/and reviewed the story! It means so much to see people enjoying it :) **_

_**I have changed the rating to M now, because well… I was looking at the future chapters and this one and there is just so much swearing and adult themes that I think I should do M in case, you know. Okay, now enjoy!**_

_The Asgardian Prince_

I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and had put on a sweatshirt over my tank top. My eyes carefully looked around the door that was opened a crack to see what the man I had met was doing in my living room. He sat there, with his green eyes staring at the black screen of my television and his hands resting on top of his knees. As if he sensed me looking at him, he glanced over at my bedroom and I turned away, opening my ex-boyfriend's drawer to collect a pair of pants and a sweatshirt for him.

What was I even doing? I was smarter than to allow a man who was a war criminal in my home. I was smart enough to call the police and get rid of him for good. But… my curiosity peaked of him back there and the thought of this… this… _madman_ beating _my_ system with something I had never seen before, seemed ludicrous.

He told me back there that he was a God, from Asgard. I thought that was a load of bullshit. I went to my closet, taking a pair of sneakers out for him that my ex had left. I was crouched down in the closet for a moment, staring at really nothing when I heard heavy footsteps come into my room. I ignored his presence until he spoke to me, "Might I inquire why you are taking so long to search for a pair of trousers and shoes?"

"Here," I told him flatly, rising up with a grunt, feeling my back actually ache. I was too young for my back to actually ache. I handed the pair of pants, the sweatshirt, and the pair of shoes to him. He looked at it with a scowl beginning to form on his face, the disgust contorted on his handsome features. "Is there something wrong?"

"You expect me to wear these disgusting articles of Midgardian clothing?" Loki had asked me. I kept a straight face while holding the clothes out to him still, waiting for him to take them from me. I waited, not replying to him and sooner than later the clothes were snatched out of my hands. "I see you are stubborn."

"Well, I apologize for not having the most suitable clothing for you, my liege. My ex lacked a sense of fashion and had taken the good clothes with him." I told him mockingly before I left the room. I tried to wipe my annoyed look with a hand, furrowing my brow in confusion as I walked outside of my room, closing the door behind me. When I walked slightly away from the door, I stopped for a moment before backtracking and opening it just a crack.

I didn't trust him enough to just close him in my room. I actually didn't trust him at all. I heard a dry chuckle come from my bedroom as I retreated away to the open kitchen. I needed something to drink; a glass of water would be perfect. Quietly, I took a glass from my cabinet and gently placed it on the counter before opening my fridge. I took the water I had in a pitcher, but then shutting the door to the fridge, I paused.

The coldness of the pitcher made me want to drop it, but my eyes were stuck staring at my reflection. Did I really look that bad? The swelling in my eye from the week before had gone down, but the bruise that stretched from my cheekbone to the top of my nose had stayed and turned from black to a stale yellow. My lip was split at its corner, but it had grown worse from me biting it down at times. There even was a slight scar on my left cheek, but that was only from a weak backhand, his ring on his finger had done the damage.

I winced from the small pain I had gotten just from touching my bruise. It should at least heal by next week. "Will it trouble you to pour me a drink of water?" I heard Loki behind me, jumping slightly and turning around to see that he was only wearing the pants I had given him and his long sleeved shirt. He also wore the sneakers, but when my eyes caught the sight of them, they were barely tied.

Without answering him, I turned around and poured him water into the glass that was intended for myself. He stood at the island in my kitchen and I slid it over to him. He didn't say thank you. He took it within his hand right away and took a long sip from it. "I am sure you know that your old lover's clothes will do me no good."

"I didn't think they would," I told him honestly. The man was so arrogant and I was already growing sick of him. Once I would find out _what_ exactly was it that he wanted and _how_ he did that back there, also after he would leave my apartment, I was going to call the police. Mark my words. "But you have your winnings, I'm sure you can buy yourself a new outfit after you leave."

"Who said I was to leave?" He asked me, quirking an eyebrow.

I took a careful sip out of my water before pointing to myself, "I think I did. I told you before that I won't call you in," my chest tightened at the lie, "but I will not assist a terrorist that destroyed New York." I could have laughed at myself with how composed I sounded, but really, I was quivering inside. He couldn't know that I was frightened of him. I'd rather show him my anger and confusion—and, really, my frustrations with him.

"I didn't do that on my own." Loki said to me, taking a sip out of his water. My teeth grinded against each other and my jaw shifted. "You have to understand, I wasn't _completely _myself."

I tried not to question him. I wasn't curious about his actions back then, nor did he really care. "Whether you were completely yourself or not, you still committed the murder of hundreds of lives last year."

"And yet you brought me here anyway," he replied with ease. The look in his eyes either said he was amused by this, or bothered. It was difficult for me to tell. "I would believe that if mere mortals have noticed that you are _harboring_ a… terrorist in your home, that that is considered to be an act of treason, is it not? And yet, you are taking the risk."

"No one uses the term treason here," I said to him honestly and coldly, trying not to really comment on anything else. But then I quickly added to him, "and I brought you here because I'm curious as to how you did your little card trick back there."

"Card trick? I know of no such thing."

"Don't play dumb with me." I nearly snapped at him. Loki leaned back on my island rather calmly, his eyes not moving away from mine. "You made all the cards Queens. Last time I checked, that is impossible. You ruined my game by cheating, but I don't even know _how_ you did it."

"That is the only purpose you have in bringing me here? I have explained to you that you tried to trick a God of Asgard—."

"The place doesn't exist." I said to him quickly, interrupting him in the middle of his sentence. The amused, bothered look that crossed his eyes had disappeared and I noticed how his knuckles gripping at the island in my kitchen turned white. I took a quick glance to my left, noticing the knife set in the corner of the counter, and slowly I began to inch my way toward it. "I remember reading about Asgard in children's books. It's fictional and you are _not_ a God."

He stared at me long and hard, as if he was judging me for a moment. I stopped inching toward my knife set and kept my breathing even. "You are but a meager Midgardian, I don't expect you to know what else is out there."

"Stop calling me a Midgardian!" I growled through my teeth. Loki's gaze didn't waver off of me, he didn't seem rattled by my outburst, it was almost as if he was trying to control his anger at the moment. "Gods don't exist," I finally admitted to him, my hand beginning to skim on top of the counter. "They're nothing but myths."

"I think you can see, mortal, that I am not a myth." Loki said, his hands dropping from the island. I took in a breath as he stepped toward me. I didn't even bother to correct him. Him calling me a mortal wasn't a problem for right now; the look in his eye was a problem. He was aggravated—frustrated, rather—with me and part of me wasn't sure what to really do about that. The set of knives were clearly calling me. "My name _is_ Loki Laufeyson of Asgard."

"You are insane." I muttered to him. In a flash, he moved toward me, his step quicker than I thought it would be but thankfully my hand was close enough to my set of knives that I was able to pull one out. By the time he made it to me, the tip of my knife was pressing against his shirt. Loki stopped in his place as my grip tightened on the knife. "You take one more step and the knife goes through your stomach." I warned. At this point, the man claiming to be a God had his nostrils flaring at me. I tried to seem determined, but my tight grip went clammy.

For a moment, a concerned mask fell over his face as his brows pulled together. He picked up both of his hands and it almost seemed like he was surrendering. He sucked in both of his cheeks, making his cheekbones more prominent. My steady hold on the knife didn't waver, but then he took a step back and I thought that we had a mutual understanding that I wouldn't hesitate on killing him.

Slowly, the tip of the knife moved away from him. But once I was going to put the knife away, the mask on Loki's face fell. My wrist was taken in his hand in a vice-like grip and my back was roughly sent to my cabinets. I yelped, hearing the wood behind me rattle and then I felt the cold metal of my knife being pressed against the crook of my neck. My eyes looked down at it pointedly as his hand firmly held me against the long cabinet. I already felt an ache from where his hand was.

"Look at me," he growled at me. I swallowed thickly, my eyes staying on the knife pressed against me before slowly looking up at him. His green eyes danced with anger inside of them. "You _dare _point a knife at me, mortal? You _dare_ point a knife at a God?"

I tried to speak, "I—."

"Shh," he hushed, raising one finger off the knife. He tilted his chin up, pressing the knife further against my throat. I felt my skin tear slightly at the contact, I glanced down quickly to see blood trickling down onto it. "I'm talking." He advised to me. I pursed my lips as I waited for his word and tried to ignore the fact that he made me bleed. "I am going to make this very simple for you to understand." He paused, and I assumed he was waiting for me to acknowledge that.

I nodded my head reluctantly, trying to stop my bottom lip from trembling. He seemed to enjoy it thought. The corner of his mouth twitched and his eyes visibly darkened, "You are beneath me, don't ever try to be brave like you had just done. You are nothing but _weak_, understand?" My teeth gritted together and I closed my eyes before nodding my head quickly. I held my chin further up though as I reopened my eyes. "No longer question me on who I am, Midgardian, I lack the patience to deal with your kind as of this moment and you are making the little patience I have disappear."

"I-I understand," I forced out with yet another nod of my head. But I didn't. I wanted answers from him. But I didn't want to bring that up when I was about to die. I learned my lesson before and when your life was at the will of someone else's hand, you didn't piss them off any further. One swift movement of his wrist and I would have been dead on my floor. I stammered out, almost cursing while doing so, "I-I won't test your p-patience."

"Glad we are at an agreement." Loki said to me and then the pressure on my neck was released. I inhaled a large breath of air as I felt myself begin being composed. My heart rate had slowed down into a regular pace and my breathing became normal. I held my neck, feeling some more blood lightly trickle onto my finger, but I had noticed that I was still held against the cabinet. The force behind his hand was great, I couldn't move away from the cabinet because of it. "Do an act of stupid bravery like that again and I would do more than press a blade to your throat."

"No more acts of stupidity, I promise." I told him softly. I half-expected him to put the knife on the counter behind me, but he kept hold of it. My mind was whirling. I didn't know if I should believe this man or not and it was logical for why I didn't trust his word. I began to feel dizzy just standing in his presence and soon the pressure he had upon me lifted. I was able to move away from the cabinet. My eyes never left him and I had never let my chin drop.

I took a deep breath while we were enveloped in a terse silence. I felt uncomfortable, tense. Then strongly, I tried to ask him, "I know you told me to not question you," his head tilted at this and his jaw locked. I quickly said to not have a repeat of what just happened, "but you have to understand how unbelievable this is—for me, anyway. And… I just want to make a small request."

"A small request?" He inquired to me. "Which is?"

"Prove it." I told him simply. His hand rolled the handle of the knife and I saw an uncertain quirk of his brow come on his face. I looked at him carefully, my eyes glancing over to the knife in his hand quickly. However, when I looked back at him, I noticed something. His brow was creased the same way it was earlier when I revealed the card to him the second time that night. "Do something like you did before… what you did to my cards wasn't natural… I'm not an idiot."

"What does proving it to you do?" Loki had asked me curiously, his eyebrow falling in line with the other. I breathed in slowly, trying to think. Honestly, what would it do for me? It wouldn't really change my situation. He continued to gaze at me until I heard a sigh escape from him. I took my eyes away from him for a moment as he turned on his heel. The sound of my knife moving slightly on my island made it to my ears. "If I were to prove it to you, will you stow away your feeble attempts at trying to prove me wrong?"

"That depends on how you prove yourself." I told him. Loki sent me a glare over his shoulder before walking over to me. I breathed in through my nose quickly as he had taken my shoulder within his hand. "What are you doing?" I asked him quickly, only to not receive an answer. Loki had brought me to my bedroom. His hand on my shoulder and the steely look he sent in the mirror made me shiver. He pushed me in front of my mirror where I was faced with my own reflection.

I almost flinched again at it. It wasn't like the one I had seen on my fridge, this one showed me in a better light. Loki still had an unsure look in his eyes, but he questioned me, "I am assuming that your lover had left those?"

The question nearly surprised me, but I shook my head slowly. He furrowed his brow at that before asking me, "Where did you get them then?"

"In… in Vegas," I admitted to him. The name sent him confusion, I saw it through his frown, so I decided to elaborate it, "It's a city… where there's gambling and drinking, fun town. I was doing something that you weren't supposed to be doing in the casinos, had been doing it for weeks, and got caught." Surprisingly, it was easy to tell him this. It was more easily than it was telling my boy—_ex_-boyfriend, Jake, the same the other day. An emotionless expression passed on his face and then I felt his hand come on the bruise on top of my cheek gently.

His touch was surprisingly warm and soft, far different from when he had touched me before. "Got caught doing what?" He asked me. I liked talking to him like this better, I decided, than talking to him about himself.

My jaw shifted and I closed my eyes, not really wanting to see my bruises. I told him, "Something called counting. Some people actually call it cheating."

It brought a chuckle to him and I opened my eyes. His hand was still on my face and he was waiting for something to happen. I didn't know what he was waiting for though. He was watching my reflection just as I was but his eyes, I noticed, were locked on where his hand was. "Funny, a fellow cheater and you were angry with me because I did a little card trick that _you_ called cheating."

"Funny, you finally admit to it." I retorted to him, smirking slightly before my hazel eyes actually widened. A hint of a smile came onto his face as his touch moved up my bruise. I barely even winced as I watched my bruise disappear in front of my very eyes.

The stale yellow clouding it slowly went away and as he touched the corner of my eye, it visibly swelled down from how it was before. My mouth parted and I felt my dark hair being brushed away from my ear.

Loki's breath tickled my ear as he asked me, almost in a hiss, "Does that prove it to you?" I swung around, my hand on top of my dresser as Loki held out his hand. I looked him up and down, the smirk I had on my face fell off long ago and I was once again feeling a familiar pit of feat develop within the pit of my stomach. I wanted to go to the bathroom, run there actually, to vomit my last meal. The pride gleaming in his eyes and the shaky hand that was trembling just from his success made me sick.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, what had I gotten myself into? Loki had a smug look on his face as he took a step forward, but I had taken a step back.

The smug look on his face immediately had grown and a dark grin had crookedly made its place. My chest had risen and fell slowly, my mouth parted, and I was at a loss of words. I was never left speechless, there were never surprises, and if I was left speechless, completely flabbergasted, it was because of something extraordinarily not out of the _norm_ had happened. Even at my most troubling moments, I had something to say.

My mother held a chair over me as I laid on the floor defenseless once and I still had a biting comment toward her. The chair had fallen on top of me, the wood scrapping a part of my body, and bruising my shoulder, but I still had a comment because I didn't fucking learn my damn lesson.

My father left my sister and me with her with a suitcase in his hand. I had his imprint still on my face from when he last touched me, telling me everything was going to be okay. That should have left me speechless, but I had a few choice words saved for both him and my mother, and I was only ten years old when that happened.

Even last week, I still had a few words to the head of security and received a backhand before spitting at him. I wasn't the type to be stunned. I wasn't the type to be left speechless. This… man (I couldn't even call him a man) did so much shit to me tonight, from cheating his way through my con, to pushing me into a store window, to putting a knife to my throat, and now this… making my bruise and the swelling in my eye disappear. I believed anyone would be stunned by everything that had happened to me in _one_ night. I had every right to be speechless, even if it was extremely rare.

I honestly felt as though my knees were going to give out from underneath me. "I believe you mortals have a phrase, 'has the cat gotten your tongue', am I right?" He asked me mockingly, but my ears were clouded and I could hardly listen to a word he just said. I only heard a dry chuckle come from him. Either I was going to pass out in front of him or I was going to actually vomit on my wood floor.

"Y-Y-You're a God." I stuttered, my eyes looking him from head to toe. I felt my heart beat against my chest quickly; my body heat was rising to reach my head. I could barely even breathe. "Shit…" I muttered. Loki didn't move toward me, he stayed in the same place. His gaze on me was the most intimidating gaze I think I had ever felt on me. My hands were trembling as I stepped back away from him. Suddenly all that I had planned to do, calling the cops and kicking him out, had flushed out of my mind. This wasn't just any terrorist.

This was a God, a God that had committed the murder of all those innocent people, and an actual God that was standing in my bedroom.

He only had to heal the bruise for me to see. Anyone could have done what he did with my cards if they were illusionists—but that wasn't even an illusion. My mind was reeling, going in all different directions, and I had the sudden instinct to run far away from him. I went back so far that I bumped into the edge of my door. Loki didn't say anything, nothing taunting and nothing mocking toward me.

My back held the door open as my hand was trying to make it to the doorknob. If I left the room, closed the door, and ran out of my apartment that would give me enough time to distract him with. In high school, I was on the track team, almost had beaten the school's record. The police station was further than I would like it to be, but my car keys were on the other side of the room and my wallet was there also. I didn't even have the five dollars he had given me before, but that couldn't even have least assisted me with some sort of transportation. Running was going to have to do.

But if I go to the cops, what would happen? What would happen to my life? It was a selfish thought, yes, but Loki was right when he said that I enjoyed it. I was always a coward when it had come to things. I was going to join the army when I was eighteen, really because my mother didn't want me to, but by the time I entered the building to take my physical, I left saying that I forgot to mention that I have a bad case of asthma. They didn't bother giving me the exam.

The past few weeks while I was on my 'vacation', I stole the chips from the tables that belonged to the people I was working with. Actually, the chips I stole belonged to my ex—but he deserved his chips being stolen. But I had done that before too I had let the other person do the moves for me as I helped them along the way. My cut of the money earned was forty percent, but with the amount of money that they earned, they didn't even notice the chips I had taken for myself out of their pile. They were either too hungover or too excited to care. Stealing was a cowardly thing to do. It was risky, but still cowardly.

I did take my risks, but my risks always had been involving me getting around something. And if I had gotten caught at my risk, I always knew it didn't involve death. I never took risks involving my life at peril. I was selfish, I was greedy, and a coward. I was the lowest of the low in the streets, the type of person that people stayed away from whether it was because I pissed people off or because I always had a scheme up my sleeve.

I bit the inside of my mouth, feeling the slight blood come onto my tongue because of how hard I bit it. He continued to just… look at me. I wanted to scream, but there was no point because if I did… why would I be yelling? He was only looking at me. If I screamed, I would feel strange because I didn't have a knife on my neck or anything like that—he wasn't harming me. It was just how intense his eyes were, how dark they had become.

I had to get out of here. I had to get out of here _now_. With that thought in mind, I turned on my heel to actually leave him in my bedroom, but just as I did so, my hand slipped from the doorknob, my hands had become too clammy to even grasp anything, and the door I would have closed behind me slammed shut. "I think that you forget that I am a God… with magic, mortal."

I stared at the door in disbelief before I slowly turned my head. Loki skimmed his hand on my dresser with a smug smirk on his face as he gestured around my room with his other hand. "Shall we talk arrangements?"

_**Yeah so I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! And I hope I am writing Loki right so far. If I'm not please tell me just so I can see where I can improve. Thank you all for reading and next chapter there will be a lot more information concerning why Loki is on Earth and how my OC is where she is. I just have to revise it a little more before I post it. Once again, thank you for reading and if you are interested, I have a Facebook page to like and on it, I post sneak peeks and story info… and ramble… and yeah. It's fun… I also have a tumblr page, but I don't use that blog often.**_

_**Don't forget to drop a review and see you next time!**_


	3. Back to the Beginning

_**So I decided to update this a little earlier than expected. Thank you to everyone for showing their support through reviews/follows/favorites! It means a lot to me and each email brings me a smile on my face! (Seriously, it does) As I said, this chapter provides a background on Alex and it also explains why Loki is on Midgard, and it does reveal something for the future too ;) Enjoy!**_

* * *

_Back to the Beginning_

I remember, still, sitting with my father on the boardwalk, watching the seagulls collect their scraps of food and even fighting with each other for a forgotten French fry. I saw a man, painted silver all over, and holding a leash that had a dog lying down on top of the wood. The dog and the silver painted man almost looked like a statue—but the statue moved there that morning, and my little mind believed it was sculpted just for me to see. I asked my father on that bench that day who sculpted the statue. Why was it really there or actually, how did it get there?

He looked over at me, with his brown eyes catching the light from the hot sun above us, and then went into his pocket on his denim jacket to take out a dollar bill. My brow furrowed down at the dollar bill and he nudged my shoulder before saying, "Drop it in the tin there."

I reluctantly took that dollar bill out of his hand, and rose up from the bench. He waved me away, his hand flapping in the wind. I stared at him for a moment before nodding my head slowly, not understanding completely why he would give me that dollar in the first place.

I was oblivious.

I walked slowly up to the man painted in silver, which I thought was a statue, and then stopped in front of it. My eyes went to the statue's shiny head and then, taking a deep breath I decided to drop the dollar bill in the tin. Only, I did not… _at all_ expect what would happen next. The statue had come to life. The painted man hollered loudly, his voice piercing the air.

The seagulls abruptly stopped what they were doing as I jumped away from the man, my eyes growing wide as I watched the man who just shouted at me resume his position. I heard a laugh behind me and soon heavy footsteps came. My dad's heavy hand landed on my shoulder and he said to me, "That isn't a statue, hon. He's a man, just trying to earn some cash."

"Why doesn't he get a job then?" I remember asking him. My dad looked between him and I, his eyes going to the man's silver painted shoes. Then my dad looked back at me. He smirked.

My dad had said to me, "He's smart, that's why." How was that smart? My dad led me away from the statue. "That man… is a talented liar. You know why?" I shook my head no to him. "You didn't think he was an actual guy, right? He stood still enough for you to think he's a statue."

"Yeah… but, how is that smart?"

"How much money was in that tin he had?" There was a lot. There were a lot of innocent people like me who fell prey to the man yelling at us. There was a lot and it was only the beginning of the day. Imagine how much money that painted silver man would get at around eight. My dad didn't even wait for me to answer him, "Were you curious to find out why he had all that money?"

I nodded my head to him, but remained silent. My dad and I walked along the boardwalk everyday whenever we went to Atlantic City. It was a tradition and it was about the only thing I could do there when I was younger. My mother, bless her, had the stamina to not be in the hotel room all day. She mainly stayed at the Blackjack tables. She was the one that actually taught me how to play when I turned eleven. Anyway, my dad continued to explain this to me, "Well, all those people who fell for that like you did, wanted to know why that man has money. They were being… curious, and that's how he earns his money, from people being curious."

And that was it, my secret for all these years. All my life, after that moment, fifteen years after that moment, I have lived by that statement. You get money from curiosity. It was how I explained everything, referring back to my father's words. But I didn't think he knew I would take him so literally. Not only did I use it to explain how I had gotten my own money, but also I used it to explain the reasoning behind my actions… it was all for curiosity, always for me.

Now, I had said my mother taught me about Blackjack before, right? I still remember when I was sitting in our house, shuffling a deck of cards. The steam from the teapot on top of the stove sounded and I heard my mother coming into the living room from the bedroom. She stopped in her place as I tried to shuffle my deck, my hands fumbling as I pushed the cards to slap together.

"Alex," she started to me, before gesturing for me to meet her in the kitchen. I looked up from my cards. This was the first time in days that she actually decided to acknowledge my presence. "Do you want to learn a game?"

Before this, my father left us.

It was three years after the last time we went to Atlantic City and he had told me about how the man, painted in silver, got his money. He left my sister, my mother, and I high and dry. My sister, Victoria, was just born, barely an infant. I remember my mother didn't speak to me for days, months almost. She paid attention to my sister though, and as long as she did that I didn't mind her ignoring me. I still haven't heard, or seen my father after he left the house with a suitcase. He never even called me for my birthday.

My mother sat me down before she walked over to the pot of tea on the stove. Victoria was still asleep. Even when she was younger, my sister slept as late as she could. At this time, my sister was a year old, at least. There is the slightest chance that I don't remember her exact age.

After pouring me a cup of tea and sitting across from me, my mother fumbled with a cigarette. She just started this habit after he left and if she had done it before, she never did it around me until this moment. Sometimes though, like this time, she never smoked it. My mother would only place the cigarette in her mouth and taste the tobacco. She wouldn't light it up though. "You're going to like this," she said to me, actually smiling.

She took the cards out of my hands and then shuffled them the right way. I watched her hands as they played with the cards, mixing them up in all different ways. The cutting sound of the cards shuffling filled the kitchen. "This is called Blackjack—you remember when we went to the casino in AC, right?" I nodded my head slowly, only I remember distinctly me avoiding them. The security was serious about minors, they didn't like them walking around in the casinos. "This is what mommy played."

She taught me the rules I needed to know, well the rules of what a common player should know. She explained to me as she dealt, the worth of each card and the rules to what I had to do when playing—when to hit or stay. We spent hours, sipping tea together. I watched the cards, mentally trying to guess the next to come out. My mother always had beaten me out—she was dealing, and the dealer always won. Sometimes I had gotten lucky against her, but it was rare.

We made Blackjack a weekly thing. It became a tradition between her and I, kind of like the one I had with my father. Every Sunday, after my sister was put to bed and before I would have to get ready for bed, we sat at the table and drank tea, playing against each other in Blackjack. It brought out my frustrations at the end of the day and if we didn't get along, we pushed it aside.

She still beat me. No matter what I had done, no matter how lucky I had gotten at different hands, I was beat. It wasn't until I was older, and had watched a movie, where I learned that my mother taught me wrong. I was taught wrong, all the rules she had given me, all the advice she had given me regarding this game, yes was a basis of playing… but there was a way to _beat_ the dealer.

I had a job at the Laundromat at the corner of Main Street. I walked there everyday and earned minimum wage. I worked there when I was fifteen and it was only a month or two afterward where I went to Borders before they all closed out. It was the closest bookstore to me. I didn't know if they would have the book I was looking for. I've been to Borders so many times a week that people who worked there knew me by name. I asked the manager to ask for a book and I remember the exact look he gave me.

But, he searched it through the database, and led me to the exact section. "Why do you want this?" He asked me, handing the book over to me. I shrugged my shoulders, my hand skimming the cover of my book. I had the exact amount of money on me and I smiled to myself.

Then the answer came to me as he rang me up, "I'm being curious." I know what my dad told me about how people who are curious are willing to spend money. I was being curious, spending money from my first paycheck that I saved. The book I bought that day was called, _Knock-Out Blackjack: The Easiest Card-Counting System Ever Devised. _I did what I did best and read up on it. I kept playing my mother without using the methods I was learning. Every night I practiced up until midnight, counting cards. I made myself think of ways to remember counts, using objects to help me remember them. I watched movies, watching he people who portrayed others counting, what would happen if you're not _careful_ while counting.

I was always good at math—you had to be good at math. I stepped away from the K-O method and soon came up with my own. I kept it to myself though. I studied counting by myself for months. It was August soon enough. My birthday just passed and I turned sixteen. My present? Not really anything special, I never got that car that every girl got or that party girls wanted either. My present I think was a balloon and a cake Victoria helped my mom make.

But that Sunday, I decided to do what I learned. It was all as planned. I sat down with my cup of tea, my mother sat down across from me, and she dealt the cards out. I carefully watched the cards, starting the count in my head. The first couple of hands, I lost. I didn't understand it. I was doing exactly as I taught myself to do, but I came to the conclusion that the count was not high and it didn't matter what I did. It was going to stay like that until the count went higher.

We went over our usual amount of hands because of my persistence. Things were beginning to look up and luck was no longer a factor in me winning. My mother lost the hands after fifteen were dealt and I had won twenty more. My mother's face pulled together, confused. She looked between the cards and me before she slowly put down the deck of cards. Then, she gave me one more final look.

I shrugged my shoulders shrugged at her and I smirked, "Well, winner, winner, chicken dinner." With that, I gathered the cards together. Her eyes were still on me. "I'm sure we'll do this again next week, correct?" I dropped the cards inside of the box and stretched my back, hearing it crack. "I have school tomorrow, night mom." Her eyes followed me out of the kitchen as I left. The smirk was still tauntingly on face as I walked slowly to my room, letting triumph fall over me.

But before I went inside of my room, I heard my mom yell to me, "Pull that shit again and your ass will be on the floor." I stopped as I curled my hand on my doorknob. My mother's heels clattered against the floor as she stepped inside the hall. I didn't look over at her. "The count, Alex?"

"What count?" I asked her clueless.

"The _count_. I've been playing the game for years." My mother told me. I stared at her as I turned the doorknob slightly. "Well?" In the books and the movies, they never gave out the count. If they didn't give out the count, they would be beaten to a pulp. I had a couple of hits thrown at me from my mother time to time. I deserved them because I could be a smartass, but I wasn't physically abused. My mother, though, right now, looked at me differently. She didn't seem angry, she actually seemed like she was going through déjà vu. I didn't know, and I still don't know, why she looked frazzled over the fact I counted.

I replied to her, not giving it up, "I don't know what you're talking about. Now, can I go to bed, mom?"

My mother gave me a long, hard, disbelieving glare before she just decided to wave me off. I sighed loudly and dramatically before I walked inside of my room. After that, we only played one game the week after. I had beaten her and she accused me of counting. I still didn't admit that I did so, and because of that, she promptly ended that tradition.

I graduated in the top ten percent of my class and got into Fordham University in New York. My mother was actually proud of me, but wasn't too keen on me staying on campus. I lived in New Jersey, but the amount of commuting would have been too much for us—or rather me. I decided to stay on campus and for the first semester, I found out it wasn't for me. My major was, surprisingly, Criminal Justice… how ironic is that to actually say that now?

After a semester, I dropped out of Fordham, with no intentions on going back. My mother was angry with me, and I took up my job again at the Laundromat. I had to start paying rent if I was to stay with her, but her constant nagging was all too much. Victoria was in school during this and witnessed the fights my mom and I had several times. It took me a year to finally move out with barely enough cash to rent out my own apartment. I stayed with my friend, Quinn, until I was on my feet.

I stayed with Quinn for two years before I decided to leave New Jersey completely. I wanted a new landscape. I still can't tell you why I thought Chicago was the place for me, but I heard people brag about the windy city a lot. I moved there with Quinn, at first, before we both went our separate ways. We grew tired of living together but still kept in touch. I took a waitress job at a diner in downtown Chicago.

I had a nice apartment in Midtown, nice one that I really had a good deal on. But rent was rough to keep up with, I was scraping up with cash with my waitress job and I had bills and car payments, and it just… wasn't enough. One night, I had decided to do something that was completely out of whack. I took a deck of cards out of one of my drawers and sat down at a kitchen table with my laptop. I watched videos of cons on YouTube.

I watched everything from the shell game, to the pigeon drop. I even watched the people who were doing it show off the amount of money they had gotten. Eventually I started with the shell game, trying to perfect that at my apartment before actually going in the streets to utilize it. I found a street corner, a safe one, and shared it with a few homeless people trying to warm up. This was the first time I met Ty.

The first night, I had earned two hundred dollars.

This was my tradition now. Every Friday night, when people were going out and were coming back drunk, I did the shell game. I had gotten a lot… a lot of money, and with my waitress job, the money was starting to come easy every week. I didn't venture in my own game until a month or two after I started. The Queen of Hearts game was of my own creation; there was a lot more skill with it to be executed. I was swapping cards; something I wouldn't even dare to do in the casinos.

It took me a month to finally get it right, practicing with Ty in my apartment every night. I honestly didn't mind him there. He provided me company. Quinn rarely visited me.

It was remarkably like the shell game, but it wasn't at the same time. People were brought in and I earned money easily. Later on, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say a year later, I met Jake Gardner. Jake Gardner was charming, handsome and… he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. He looked _smart_, in his business suit and tie. I remember serving him coffee in my diner. He came in to see me everyday, and I poured him his coffee. We talked everyday for two weeks until he finally decided to ask me out on Friday night and it was the only Friday night that I missed of my tradition.

Now Jake was two different people, like I was. He, by day worked in an office, but by night, he let loose. I, by day was a waitress, by night a hustler. We had that in common. Through him I met Emmanuel Domingo, Gary Montgomery, and Phil… I still don't know Phil's last name. Jake brought us together, and Jake liked all of us together. If I knew better than that he was an idiot, I think we would have broken up a long time ago. We both dated for about seven months. He even moved in with me after two months.

Though, money was coming tight again. He didn't let me continue my tradition after we started dating, but I still held my waitress job. Jake lost his job due to something, he never told me. That was when I came up with an idea. I hadn't counted in years, but I made sure to teach Jake what I knew. He wasn't keen on the idea at first, but soon he agreed and we were on the plane to Nevada to try our method.

I even brought Quinn to help. Her and I gambled with fake IDs many a time in New Jersey. She knew how to play the game, just as well as I did. So, I sent her to be my spotter in Vegas and I used Jake to play for me, just so it wasn't obvious that I was the one counting if we got caught. Before this one time, I had gotten caught in AC, but they only gave you a slap on the wrist there. I wasn't prepared for Vegas if you got caught; only the movies provided me with a basis.

I didn't though expect to get caught on the first time I actually did it. It had all gone smoothly, I was counting cards, giving squeezes to Jake's arm providing him a basis of what we should do. We were all in character. My name actually was Darla Palmer from Texas. I had my accent down to a tee and I acted completely clueless, hanging off of Jake's arm. I had one simple rule… do _not_ gamble. During this time, I was unaware about the technology they had in the casinos also.

Apparently, I was in the database as a counter as is. I counted and got caught in Harrah's when I went to Atlantic City the last time. I was gambling in Caesar's, which was part of the chain, when we were in Vegas. Jake had eventually had gotten drunk at the table and I was soon calling the shots. Quinn spared me a careful glance once she noticed the casino host watching me and I stopped right there, having Jake do what he could.

And then, hell, he did something stupid.

We had two tens.

You can split a pair if you got one, but there are some pairs that you should split, and others that you shouldn't. You were not supposed to split the pair of tens, but I couldn't have a say in it because I was being watched. Jake had split them and we ended up busting that hand. I couldn't take it any more by the time we had gone again. I took several chips from his pile in my purse, in case he lost them all, and then left him and Quinn at the table.

I didn't even make it out of the hotel before the security and the host caught up to me. I kept my act longer than I should have, and was almost beaten to the point that I almost gave it up. I taunted them as they had hit me, saying that they must feel good to hit a woman. I didn't care. They wanted the count. I didn't give it to them. Because of that, I was taught a lesson to just get over myself and give it. But I still probably would never put that lesson in use.

After that, I broke up with Jake, and hadn't seen him since. He didn't understand why what happened had happened and was prepared to knock out the security that had beat the piss out of me. I told him, "It's all right, really I'm fine, but you have to go." I ordered him a plane ticket home as he yelled at me for being so stupid—that this whole plan was insane and would have never worked anyway.

I replied to him simply to put his key on the table and get rid of his things. I printed out his flight back to Chicago and gave him money for the cab ride to the airport. I couldn't walk into any of the hotels that were Harrah's owned (Quinn and I stayed at the Mirage, which thankfully wasn't) and so I gave Quinn my backup chips to cash in.

"You stole chips from the table… from _him_?" She laughed, pocketing them as I lied down with a bag of ice on my head. I had a headache and I couldn't make myself get up to look at my 'battle wounds'. I chuckled and nodded to her. "Good, I never liked him."

"We'll have a peaceful weekend now." I told her honestly, closing my eyes. I didn't know if she agreed me or not, but her reply was the door being closed behind her. No one helped me walk back to the hotel. I walked the walk of shame into the Mirage by myself. I had looks coming from all over though. No one extended me a hand to help me with, which I didn't expect. What could have been going through their heads that they didn't want to even ask me if I was okay?

But… then again, I don't think that I would have helped me. I think I would have wanted to stay out of that business.

And I now was getting into someone's business. That was the story of my life and now I had to listen to a God's story about how he made it to Midgard. I sat down across from him on top of my bed, reluctantly and watched as he recounted after the attack of New York—he refrained though from telling me what was going through his head _during_ the attack of New York.

* * *

It had been long since he was brought to his cell. Loki looked down at the cuffs around his wrist, chained together. He flexed his hands, stretching the chain as he allowed his strength to run through him. Loki imagined the chains breaking between him, but they didn't. His black hair had grown longer and it was resting on his shoulders. Loki's green eyes looked over at the lonely plate containing food and the glass of ale right next to it. He didn't remember who had brought it for him, but as his mouth thirsted, he silently thanked whoever had.

Loki stood up from his chair and walked over to the table. He looked outside of his glass prison to see two guards standing at the doors of the dungeons. He smirked at them, stepping in front of the table. From underneath their helmets, Loki could see how their eyes actually widened when he smirked over at them.

It actually felt good to strike fear in them, even when he was confined behind thin glass and limited by the specially made cuffs he had around his wrists. Awkwardly, Loki picked up the cup of ale, his eyes never leaving the guards, and he took a sip out of it. It was strange that they were still frightened by it, but Loki felt himself grow a bit proud over the fact that they were.

That was when the doors to the dungeon had opened. Loki looked away from the Asgardian guards to watch two bulky gods of royalty strut down the stairs. Loki tilted his chin up, his smirk falling off as he brought down the cup of ale to the table. Odin and Thor—with their arms out awkwardly on either side of them and their armor shining from the candles and lanterns illuminating their way to him. Thor held his mighty Mjölnir at his side while Odin carried his Odinspear at his.

Loki didn't know why they had come. His punishment had been dealt for his crimes a while ago. He walked slowly up to the front of his prison before looking at the two guards before him, his toes wiggling in the slippers given to him by his mother, Frigga. Odin's powerful voice ordered the guards, "Leave, I demand to speak with Loki Laufeyson _alone_ with my son." Laufeyson? It made his eyebrow perk and Loki glanced away from them to see the two guards actually leave them alone.

"Laufeyson?" Loki questioned to Odin, looking down at him. Odin almost didn't look him in the eye, but he did so. Since his imprisonment, Loki had gotten thinner and paler. His green eyes weren't bright as they were before and his face was slightly sunken in. What was once his son now looked like a sick creature. "You have proceeded in calling me your son no matter the circumstance… tell me, what has changed?"

The question held a mocking tone. Odin scowled at Loki, a growl escaping through his teeth as he told him coldly, "You are no longer a son of mine."

"Right," Loki chuckled darkly, nodding his head. He allowed the words go through him and he furrowed his brow at the All Father, "but was I ever really your son?"

"Loki," Thor started to him. Loki's eyes went to Thor who had a serious cast over his face. Loki shifted his jaw uncomfortably as he said, "do _not_ speak to our father like that." Our father? He had the nerve to refer to Thor as his father as well?

Loki tried to not to let the anger and hate boil his blood, knowing full well that he was useless and wasn't able to do anything with that anger and hate. He nearly snarled at Thor, "_Your_ father."

"I had a son named Loki," Odin went on to say, bringing Loki's attention back to him. The fact that Odin had the audacity to say that Loki was ever his son was… insulting. How _dare_ he even try to say that? "But my son is lost, and now what is standing before me is a creature that I do not recognize."

"I have always been a creature to you!" Loki snapped at his father, letting his nostrils actually flare. Odin remained not phased; instead, he stared at Loki with his one eye. "For all these years, you have favored Thor over me because I was always the monster that parents told their children at night. You could never have a Frost Giant sitting at the throne of Asgard!"

Thor tried hard to keep his face like stone.

Before either of them could respond, Loki turned around on his heel, and walked away from them. He no longer wanted to look at the two of them right now. They had come down for a purpose. He asked of them, "What is it that you want? You two would not have paid me a friendly visit if there isn't anything you wouldn't like to discuss." He highly doubted that both Odin and Thor wanted to drop by and give him a hello. This was something else entirely.

Odin spoke, "We are here to discuss… the matter of your punishment for your crimes of treason against Asgard."

Loki turned his head and replied, "I believed my crimes were to be punished by me rotting in this dungeon for several centuries."

"That is no longer the case, Loki." Odin told him slowly.

"Containment… is no longer the case for me?"

"You would be stuck with the same thoughts and ideas you have when you are released from this prison. Containment… will not teach you a lesson of what you have to learn." Odin said this to Loki clearly, but Loki still had trouble understanding. So… Odin was not going to allow him to rot in this cell… Odin was going to release him? There was more to it than him being released, Loki knew. "If your punishment lied in my hands, you would be executed for your crimes."

"But… I'm not being executed…" Loki stated slowly, turning on his heel to face them. He walked slightly forward, tilting his chin up as he acknowledged Odin. "And might I ask why… am I not being executed?

"Your mother, Frigga, will not allow it." Odin stated to him flatly. His mother—bless her. "She still loves you after what you had done." Frigga, of course loved him. Frigga was never ashamed of her son, Loki, even though he wasn't actually her son. She always treated him and Thor like equals, unlike Odin, who always seemed to favor Thor more. The reason holding him back though was because of his _wife_.

Loki chuckled darkly at this, "You are actually letting sentiment get in the way of _your_ rule? You cannot make the punishment of execution because of your _wife _actually getting in the way of it."

"Loki—."

Loki's voice was nearly a growl as he had cut Odin off, "Unlike you and your son, I have learned that sentiment cannot lead Asgard into greatness. I would be a far better ruler than you two would ever be! I am what the throne needs, not some ruler who does not leave his matters with his wife in—!"

"That is _enough_!" Odin's voice echoed in the dungeons. Loki closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes at the All Father. He swallowed before Odin continued on, "Thor... will be dealing your punishment on my behalf."

"Thor…?" Loki questioned him, his eyebrows pinching together. He slowly looked over at Thor himself, who was trying to keep a determined, confident face on as his name was being mentioned. Loki mockingly bowed to the god he used to call his brother, "Am I to be calling you my king now?"

"Loki, please." Thor started to his brother before Loki turned back to Odin.

"You are really so desperate to have me executed, that you go to Thor to make the decision for you?" He asked Odin, not finding this to make any sense. Odin didn't make a reply to him and that was when Loki's eyes brightened up. A smirk crept up onto his face as he took a step forward, his face nearly at the thin glass that separated him from them. "Oh, this is great. This is… really brilliant, there is more to this than your Queen. There is far more. Tell me, All Father, what are you not exactly telling me?"

Odin hesitated slightly at the question, but soon the King of Asgard answered it honestly, "I am growing weak, Loki." Loki's face did not soften at that, however he noticed how Thor's face did. Thor looked away from Loki, his brow pulling together as he frowned at what his father had admitted. Clearly, Loki had noticed, that Thor held the burden of this decision because of his father's weakness. Loki had suspected that it was from him putting off his last Odinsleep for far too long.

"Thor, my son," Loki nearly rolled his eyes at the All Father for making it a point to refer to Thor as his son. Loki controlled himself even though he had a lack of control at the moment. Odin continued, "has my confidence that he will make the right decision on my behalf."

"And I am _sure_ he will," Loki said to Odin, his hand flinching toward the table as if he wanted to flip it over. It didn't. These iron cuffs were made especially for him, he couldn't perform magic in his cell no matter how much he tried. "But your _son_ can barely even look at me right now."

"Brother," Thor said to Loki in a firm voice. Loki tilted his chin up before glancing over at Thor. Loki didn't feel the need to correct him as of right now. Before he could even correct him however, Thor turned to his father, who seemed like he had enough. "Father," he started to Odin. Odin turned inwardly toward Thor while having his eye carefully on Loki for a moment. Loki was sure to keep both of his eyes on them. "I would like a moment alone with my brother. I feel that you must rest." Thor laid his hand gently on top of Odin's shoulder.

Loki bit the inside of his mouth, feeling a slight bit of envy that he thought was buried away. He glanced away from the pair before looking back at them. He noted how Odin actually nodded to Thor in agreement. "I feel that you are right." Loki gave him a fake half-smile as Odin glanced over at him—one final glance without so much as a goodbye—before he turned around, his heavy cape flapping behind him as he walked out of the dungeons.

Loki looked back at Thor, who was holding such intensity behind his glare that he was trying to give. The doors to the dungeon slammed shut and that signaled Loki to go over to the chair he had sat in before. Loki watched Thor carefully, his gaze never wavering, as he awkwardly picked up the chair in his hands. He brought it to the middle of his cell before plopping down on top of it.

"Brother—." Thor had started but only to be interrupted by Loki, who tsked at Thor's attempt to make conversation.

Loki crossed his legs over one another before letting a strange smile come onto his face. He said to Thor, "Now, we all know that I am not _that_. For someone to still think that I am, is but a fool to even have it in their head."

"Perhaps," Thor said with a careful nod, acknowledging Loki's words. "But no one can deny that there was a time where we had both called each other brothers. We had grown up together and we had played together as children, Loki. You may not be my brother now, but at a time you were and I cannot pretend that that time never existed."

"You and I," Loki had started, chuckling darkly, "remember far different things from our childhood."

"You choose to remember something else, that I was barely aware of, and I am sorry for how you felt about father's treatment of you." Thor said to him evenly. Loki's eyes narrowed at Thor darkly. But Thor was not phased though by Loki's glare.

However, his sincerity was mistaken as pity. "You are incapable of sincerity, _brother_." Thor gritted his teeth at the statement and he saw the glare Loki had lighten just a little. "And if you cannot pretend that that time has passed, then why are you choosing to make the execution my punishment on behalf of Odin?"

"Because I am not, _brother_." Loki noted the sarcastic, mocking tone that nearly matched his. Had he struck a chord inside of Thor? Did that chord almost snap? In any other situation, Loki might have even laughed at him, but the statement nearly surprised him. Loki leaned his head back, his mouth parted slightly, and he raised his eyebrow up. "Father believes that you are different and the brother that I have known is gone, but… I think the Loki that I have come to know is still there. To kill you, would leave me with a great burden to carry for centuries."

"But you would surely get over it after several centuries, am I right?"

Thor went on, without paying mind to the comment coming from Loki, "You will learn from your mistakes, Loki. An execution or containment in the dungeons will not help you learn from them."

"And what are you planning to do with me?" Loki asked him, easing his back on the chair. "A public torture? You are going to have a guard flog me, maybe, for all of Asgard to watch until I have apologized?"

Thor replied, "No." No? That was the only punishment that Loki had thought of other than an execution. He looked at Thor carefully, reading his face to see if he could extract an answer from him. If… wait… Loki raised his chin further up and the realization dawned on him. No, Thor wouldn't do that… that punishment would be worse than torture and an execution combined. Thor had much more sense than… "I have decided that in two days' time, you will be banished to Midgard." Apparently he did not have much sense that Loki gave him credit for. At the mention of Midgard, Loki's face actually contorted.

Thor continued on with barely a pause. "You will be stripped of your titles, your powers, until you have reached an understanding of what you had done on Midgard." The punishment sounded mostly like his banishment. Loki felt his jaw clench. Thor thought that the same banishment would do… for _him_? Thor was thicker than Loki had originally thought him to be. "After which, you can return to Asgard, brother."

Loki had let that sink in for a moment before his eyes narrowed in a glare toward Thor. He leaned his back forward and uncrossed his legs, as he looked Thor up and down before settling on his eyes. He nearly hissed, "A torture… combined with an execution would be something of mercy compared to being banished to an infernal, _disgusting_ place like Midgard."

Thor replied to him calmly, "I have learned their ways, their virtues, they have taught me things that Asgard could never have taught me before. Though they are mortals, they served me a far greater purpose than what I have expected… and I feel that you will do the same."

"You are wrong." Loki stated to him, rising slowly from his seat. His smirk had fallen off before and a look of anger had firmly replaced it. "You know just as well as I do, that it is _absurd _for me to walk amongst filth when they are naturally beneath me! I will _not_ be sent to Midgard. I'd rather die a death of shame than be with mortals, powerless."

Thor didn't make a reply to him right away. He remained silent and even braved a step toward Loki's glass prison. His brother stood before him, no longer in his Asgardian armor, looking sick. Thor did not recognize the man inside of there. Loki's skin had grown paler, his dark hair had grown greasier and longer, not slicked back or even combed, and his green eyes weren't bright, they were dark. His brother… was sick, in his thin green tunic and dark trousers. He looked sick and even vulnerable… and it was a look that he never thought to see his brother sport.

Thor never broke eye contact with his brother and the words fell from his mouth easily. "No matter what you say, my decision is made. It will bring you to the right path, brother." The persistence Thor had in calling him brother made Loki's stomach churn. Thor thoughtfully placed a hand on top of the glass while looking at his brother with a gleam of hope striking his eyes. "It will lead you to the right path and it will bring you back to Asgard, your home."

Loki merely glanced over at Thor's hand before moving forward, bending down. His nose nearly touched the glass as he matched Thor's line of sight. He sneered, "And what makes you think that I ever thought Asgard to be my home?"

Thor's hand fell at the sneer. His blue eyes never left Loki's and he shook his head at his brother, "My decision is made. In two days' time, my father, _our_ father, will strip your powers and titles away and you will be sent to Midgard." With that said, Thor turned on his heel, no goodbye being given to Loki. Loki straightened his back and watched Thor with narrowed eyes as he retreated toward the doors.

He rolled his neck slightly, his jaw clenched, and he glanced down at the cuffs that were chained to his wrists. "Since you are making the decisions regarding me, do you think you will do me a kindness and have the guards take these chains off?"

His answer was the slam of the doors to dungeon, making Loki jump slightly. He muttered to himself, "I will assume that that would be a no."

As Loki concluded his story of banishment to me, carefully not mentioning some things, I might add, I stared at him from across my coffee table. "So… you were banished… and just happened to drop in Chicago, of all places?"

"Out of everything I have said to you," Loki drawled out, leaning slightly toward me. His hands were balling into fists on top of his knees as he spoke to me. "That is what you have to ask?"

"Well…" I started to him. Personally, I wasn't fond of his story and I didn't want to get into it. I was sure he didn't want to get into it also, judging how his jaw clenched several times as he brought up his brother and father. "I get what you have just told me, I've been too much tonight to not believe it. I just don't understand why you were dropped off in Chicago of all places. And how did you get here? Did you fall out of the sky?"

"I did not come to your city right away," Loki mentioned to me, "I had walked to the nearest city. I was merely on the outskirts in a rural area." I honestly didn't know that there was a rural area close by, considering Chicago was mostly surrounded by water, but I didn't question it. I stayed in the city for the most part and if you had asked me directions to get to Springfield or Bloomington, forget it, I would lead you in the wrong direction.

"Well… okay, then, what happened before that?" I asked him reluctantly. "Not New York, I mean—."

"We do not discuss that." Loki held up his hand and stopped me from talking. "You are to only know of my banishment and of what I may require from you." What he may require from me? I stared at him for a moment before looking away. There was still the chance to go to the police, there was still the chance to get out of this, but I knew I was in this knee-deep already.

I looked back at Loki, "I… I will help you." The words surprised me even when they had come out. A smile slowly crept onto Loki's face and it wasn't the type of smile that would bring one on my face. The smile actually scared me, sending me a chill up on my spine. I reluctantly asked, almost not wanting to know, "What exactly am I to do to help you?"

And that, my friends, was how everything started—how I ended up where I am today, in a hidden government organization, in an infirmary, and in love with a God who almost killed me.

* * *

_**Yeah, the story didn't really advance, I'll admit it, but I feel like all this had to be mentioned before we actually get into the story. After this, it's going to pick up, I promise! Hope you enjoyed it and if you haven't yet, you should like my Facebook page to see sneak peeks and other wonderful things for this story :) Until next time!**_


	4. Intimidations

_Intimidations_

He might as well have held a gun to my back, but really he only had his hand on my shoulder as I led him to the library. I was stiff from only that. The gun I think would have been a little better for me to handle.

His hand was on my shoulder from when we had left my apartment, to my car inside the parking garage, having it on me the whole entire ride over to the library also. "What am I going to say to them?" I asked, hiding my fear through a tight smile. I spoke through my teeth.

"Tell them that you require a book that will give you information regarding the Brísingamen." Loki told me with ease. Though he said that word with such ease, the name, I could tell that was not something that I would likely remember when I would walk in there. I had already forgotten how to say it.

We had come to an agreement the night before of what I am to do and how I was to do it, somewhat, he was very vague still. It had taken him a day of mulling to figure what he wanted to do with me. He needed me something, but it was clear he didn't know what. The night I brought him to my apartment was long and tiring. I slept the rest of the day afterward and was rudely woken up when he needed something to eat—he had gotten through a lot of _my _mortal snacks.

It was his second day with me. I could run away from him, I could call someone to help me, but I didn't. I decided on helping this man so he could get as far away from me as he could. I didn't want him in my apartment and calling the cops would make things ten times worse for not really him, but rather for me. He was a God, I was a mortal, and if I called someone to help me he could easily get away from them and then harm me for the inconvenience.

I knew this. I thought it through this morning when I was contemplating it.

He wanted something called the Brísingamen, as he had stated before. I didn't know what it was and I was sure that the library didn't know what it was either. It was a necklace… but that was the only thing that I knew and what I was told. It sounded like a made up word to me, but I was going along with it. I was like a blind man walking down the street in this situation, but I was still going along with it.

That morning when I had gotten up for a bowl of cereal, I saw Loki standing over my bookcase with his hands on his hips. His green eyes looking at each individual book I had owned.

"Your library is improper." He had said, taking out a book from the top. After a day of him, I was still not used to his proper language. My eyebrows peaked as I made my way over to the kitchen, opening up my pantry to take out a box of Frosted Flakes. Tony the Tiger was smiling at me with his thumb up as I placed him on the counter top. He somewhat gave me the confidence to continue this morning.

I could hear him growl excitedly to me, 'You're doing greeeeaaaaatt!' I sure wished I was doing great.

I heard the pages of one of my books being flipped behind me. "There is hardly anything of use to me."

Taking out a bowl, I had let out a loud sigh. "Well, I can't satisfy everybody with my books, can I?"

My book collection ranged from the classic novels from the romantic era to the 50 Shades of Grey saga that women without a sex life (or (in my case) with a _boring_ sex life) read—sometimes we all liked to read erotic, BDSM, don't let us fool you (I wouldn't participate in that though). I even had a few of Shakespeare's plays that were really there for decoration and a collection of his satires, both of which collected dust. I had The Grimm Brothers' Fairytales for when I would decide to have kids (I wasn't going to poison their minds with Disney and be disappointed later on with life like I was when I read the _actual _fairytale) and some Edgar Allen Poe. So, my collection wasn't bad.

He was just difficult to please.

"It won't satisfy anyone in the right mindset," Loki said to me, putting the book back into its shelf.

"And what has gotten you so curious about mortal novels?" I asked him curiously, pouring my cereal into a bowl. The sugary smell had made it to my nose and I smiled to myself. Sometimes a good morning just needed a bowl of cereal. I closed the box before I went to put the box back. "We are but petty humans, I doubt our language is even comparable to that of the Asgardians."

"Your mockery is unneeded." He had reacted three ways to my sarcasm, my way of coping with any situation that presented itself. Also the thing that always had gotten me in trouble. One: he would snap at me, which was common. Two: he would get annoyed and frustrated, which would sometimes incorporate a scowl or an eye roll. And then finally: he would be amused, which was rare. If he was amused, he would retort back to me something equally as sarcastic. The third reaction was rarely seen, especially these past two days.

This reaction was being annoyed. He neither snapped at me nor scowled at me, but I didn't even have to check to see if he rolled his eyes at me. "I'm not mocking you," I lied. He didn't make a reply while I had gone to get the milk. I was near running out and I made a mental note that I should get some more later on in the day. "But I am wondering what you are even doing looking through my 'library' anyway." I poured the milk in the bowl, watching it already soak up the Frosted Flakes.

The best part about this cereal was that the Frosted Flakes brought a sugary taste to the milk once they were soaked and soggy. "I am in search of something." He said to me, almost like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I am looking to regain my powers and my titles to return to Asgard where _I_ belong. I can't stand to be in Midgard any longer."

"You've only been here for two days," I mentioned to him with my eyebrow raised. I opened a drawer to take out a spoon. I slid it in the bowl gently so I wouldn't so much as spill the milk over its edge. "And you barely have left the apartment," I added, realizing this as I turned around. I held the bowl carefully as I made my way to the island. Loki's eyes seemed like they were analyzing my every move. "Actually you really hadn't left the apartment at all… are you really that tired of me already?"

With this, I picked up the spoon and scooped up a spoonful of my cereal. The milk dripped off the spoon slightly as I shoved the cereal in my mouth. Loki didn't answer me, he simply walked over my way before propping himself on top of one of my stools on the other side. Hunched over, I took in another spoonful. "You have disgusting eating habits." He commented to me, his eyes being stuck on the milk dripping from my chin. I actually wiped at it before cradling my head with a hand.

"I apologize for not having a royal court to impress all my life." I told him coldly, my eyes narrowing at him. I took a bigger spoonful just to spite him and swallowed it within seconds. "I'm not exactly the most poised person you have met."

"Obviously not." Loki scoffed at me. "None of you Midgardians are poised in your ways. That is why you all need a good rule over your heads."

"And a good rule is supposed to teach me table manners, correct?" I asked him coldly, going to take in another spoonful of my cereal. I saw his jaw set, his eyes slightly widen, and his nostrils also give a slight flare. In a flash, I felt my hand being smacked, knocking out the spoon in my hand. My mouth parted in shock as the spoon clattered across the island, the milk dribbling slightly from it. I turned my head slowly toward him and saw a smug look come across his face.

I swallowed thickly and asked him, "Have they taught you up in Asgard how to take a joke once in a while?" The question was serious, it wasn't meant to be rhetoric. I also thought that the self-proclaimed, 'God of Mischief', who was also known to be a prankster, would be able to distinguish an insult from a joke. I glared at him before stretching over to pick up the spoon and going over to the paper towels, ripping one apart.

"Your joking does not excuse your inability to eat _properly_." Loki stated. I looked over my shoulder to see a bored expression come across his face. His eyes glanced down at my breakfast curiously. "This is what a mortal eats for breakfast?" He questioned me. "It looks…"

"It's good." I replied to him. "Trust me on that."

"It looks like a harder form of porridge." Loki described it to me, his face nearly contorting as he continued to look down at it. They had porridge up at Asgard? That was highly interesting. How he acted, I hardly think they had the simple breakfast item. I bit down that comment, sensing that he was already not in the mood to hear any of them. This time to satisfy him, I carefully took a small spoonful of cereal. He still stared at my cereal, slightly repulsed by it.

I did, however, answer him, "You could say that it is. Now," I started, bringing the attention away from my cereal. Loki looked up at me with his eyebrows knitted together. I continued to ask him, since it really just occurred to me, "I am confused. You don't have your powers? How did you do what you did before?"

Loki looked at me for a moment. I half-expected him not to answer this. He was always private about his matters, especially these past two days. The first night he brought up with me why he was in 'Midgard' and how things were going to happen in my apartment—I didn't argue with anything then because I was so frightened. The night before he told me that he needed my help to search for something, something that he did not yet know of. He must have been thinking about it all night if he had been searching for something about it this morning. He didn't tell me last night though why he needed that something.

"I was banished." Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"I know that, you told me that." I reminded him. The 'I was banished' answer did not answer either of my questions. He was just restating the fact.

"If a God is banished from Asgard, their titles and their powers are taken away from them." Loki explained to me curtly. Okay… that answered one question, barely, but not the other. I stared at him incredulously, my spoon swirling my cereal around in the bowl, making a slight scraping sound. Loki took a breath, "I need my powers back, _fully_ back. They are not completely gone."

"You just said that your powers were taken away from you." I told him flatly, my eyes narrowing at him further, confused by his words. "How are they not completely gone?"

Loki looked as though he didn't know the answer himself. His answer to me merely was an inference he made. He told me, assuming already that I knew of Odin—which I did because of the stories of Norse Mythology my father told me, "When my fa—Odin," he quickly corrected himself. For his sake, I tried to not notice how he fumbled over that, "stripped me of my powers he was weak. My powers are weak now, I had used a lot of it since I had arrived to Midgard, and all of my uses of it were by chance. I am sure that they will eventually run out."

"What do you mean by chance?" I questioned him confused. He wasn't sure that his magic would actually work when he used it on me? He only took a chance?

"I've shown you things that a mortal could do," he told me, dismissing what he said with a hand. "You have said a man's name before that does illusions yesterday, I believe."

"Criss Angel," I told him, remembering that quickly. Yesterday, I also explained why I didn't believe him at first because what he had done was some David Blaine, Criss Angel type of shit I saw on television. "But you _healed_ me…" I mentioned to him. "You've made my… bruise disappear. That isn't some Criss Angel shit, last time I checked. That was actual magic."

"Powerful magic," he corrected me honestly. His eyes going to where my bruise was before. "And it's not completely gone. You still have some of it under your eye. You got so easily excited over it that you neglected to see the imperfections."

"You made me look less of a degenerative," I said to him, half-smiling. "That is enough for me to get excited over."

"My powers aren't gone completely, as you can see," he brought me back to his original point. I saw in his eyes how he wanted to go back to the original topic of conversation. He added to me, the disdain sounding very clear in his voice, "They are _limited_. If I am to go about Midgard, I do not want to be limited."

"Okay…" I said to him slowly, having a bit more understanding now about him. His father, Odin, was weak—or growing weak—and something had happened where Loki's power didn't disappear completely. His power, however, did become limited and because it was limited, Loki could only do so much with it. It was a good and bad thing. Good, because he wouldn't be able to hurt people with it. Bad, because he was going to be determined in getting it back and I was going to be dragged along with him… not only that, he was living with me temporarily. I was selfish and the fact that I might have a grouchy God hidden in my apartment bothered me already.

"And with this, you will be going back to Asgard too?" That was another pro I discovered with this thing. I would be an unknown hero if I brought a terrorist to his home before he could do any damage like last time. The further he would get from Earth, the better. But to my disappointment, he shook his head no. "You just said—."

"Asgard will not be in my path with just the necklace alone. I need to get my full power before I could even go back—the necklace is only the first step." Loki explained to me.

"So… you are looking for a necklace?"

"Called the Brísingamen, yes." That word. God, I hated that word. I couldn't imagine what it had looked like on paper. "It belonged to an Vanir named Freyja." The Vanir hostage, Freyja, I remembered vaguely reading about her too. She was a hostage but also the Goddess, in Norse mythology, of love, fertility, beauty, and other things (sex and lust). I didn't know too much about her though. If anything, I knew more about Odin, Thor, and Loki, and the stories that usually associated with them were of children. I didn't know the actual Norse mythology.

"And what exactly does this necklace do?" I asked him curiously. I watched his eyebrows pull together in thought and I saw him roll back his shoulders. He didn't actually know, did he? That was why he was looking through my bookcase.

"It was crafted by dwarves that Freyja fornicated with to get," fornicated… he just used the term fornicated. I tried not to choke on my cereal and swallowed before I actually guffawed in front of him. Loki stared at me, his eyebrows pulling together as a look of annoyance crossed his eyes. It was as if he meant to ask me, 'Really?' I shook my head and gestured for him to continue.

"I had followed her one day," or he had a personal connection to this? "And had told the All Father of what she had done." He smirked at himself as if the memory rolled through his head as he said it to me. "I had gotten permission to steal it, which I did successfully," he didn't elaborate on how, "but I didn't know then the power it had until after she had retrieved it back from Odin. She had sparked a war in Midgard, shedding blood of so many, just so she could get the necklace back."

"Did she get it back?"

"Oh, yes. But at one point she had gotten herself tied in a marriage and the necklace was lost." Loki said to me, the smirk on his face growing slightly. I still, however, did not get what this necklace actually did. It was only a piece of jewelry.

I asked him, "What _exactly_ does it do? Do you put the necklace on and then poof, you have your powers?"

"The power does not lie with the chain, it lies with the stone that the chain holds. However, the chain is what connects you with the stone, if the wearer does not have magic to control it."

"So… you get your powers if you wear it?" I questioned him again, my eyebrow raising. The necklace though was only step one. He nodded his head to me after a moment's thought. I shook my head at the idea. "That sounds way too simple."

Loki rolled his eyes at me before shaking his head, "Everything is that simple, sometimes even simpler for your petty mind to understand." I tried to look at him carefully, carefully enough to see if I was able to pull out the lie coming straight out of his ass. There was more to this than what he was telling me, I wasn't an idiot. But I looked into his eyes not expecting the truth to be seen. He seemed genuine with this necklace.

"I am going to need a more durable library." He said to me after a minute after, I didn't realize until now that I have yet to finish my cereal. "Yours is useless."

I assumed that this was my cue to volunteer my forced assistance.

I suggested to him, "I'll take you to Washington. It's on South State Street and it's a ten minute drive from where I am." Those were my words and that was all it took him for me to take him. Before we left I made sure that he wasn't going to be recognized. As a card counter, amongst other things, I had to keep with appearances. I made due. I was lucky when I found fake facial hair in my closet and a pair of Jake's old sunglasses. When I had come out with both of these things, I received an incredulous look from Loki before I flattened the fake goatee on his chin. Before I also found a pair of slacks that Jake also left here and a button down deep in one of my drawers. I gave them to Loki for now, feeling that he would rather wear those than the other articles.

Unfortunately, he still wore the sneakers, even if they didn't match. I gave him a hair tie and one of my brushes that I didn't have to instruct him to use. He had gotten the message. I watched as he brushed his hair back and tied it back with a hair tie. His eyes were hidden behind the sunglasses I had given him. He didn't look like a different person, but he wasn't recognizable.

I was fine. I felt fine as I had gotten dressed myself, washed the now empty bowl, and grabbed my keys and my wallet. However, the feeling disappeared when Loki laid his hand on my shoulder as we walked out of the apartment. His touch always did this to me since that first night. It always made me flinch, even if it was just a brush against me. He knew this all too well already. He smirked at me all the way from the apartment to the garage next door. I might have been sarcastic, I might have mocked him, but he knew that I feared him.

So, yes, he might as well had a gun held against my back. I might as well had been his hostage.

His hand was still upon me when we walked inside the Harold Washington Library on South State Street. I gritted my teeth, my heart was pumping blood quickly through me and the sound of it pumping clouded my ears. I walked straight up to the librarians at the desk, going through my wallet to get my library card. I fumbled it as I presented it to her. She glanced over it, before nodding her head at me. "Thank you." I said to her, pushing the card back into my wallet.

I glanced over at Loki, who looked back at me. I wish I didn't give him sunglasses. I took a deep breath before I said to the librarian helping me. "I actually need help looking for something specific for a… college assignment."

"Okay," the lady started, her eyes not really on me. She typed away at her computer and the sound of her fingers pounding the keys proved to be annoying. "And what do you need help with?"

"I am looking… for something that is part of Norse Mythology." I started to her, thinking of a few ways to how to word this. "My… my professor wants me to study this stupid… mythological relic called the Bingasingaman."

"Brísingamen." Loki corrected behind me, squeezing my shoulder within my hand. I wouldn't say it was the most encouraging squeeze of my shoulder—it wasn't encouraging at all.

Her eyebrows furrowed at the name, her fingers still typed away at her computer. She answered us eventually, "Anything that has to do with mythology should be on the second floor by the religious section."

"Thank you." I murmured to her and then I shrugged off Loki's hand from my shoulder to navigate my way. "Let's just get your books and get out of here." I told Loki in a hushed voice as I walked to the stairs of the library. Loki followed at my side and I already felt his eyes on me.

He didn't say anything, but a chuckle escaped him. The stairs stretched before us and as we climbed them, I felt like they kept on stretching, keeping us on them for far longer than we needed to be. I gulped to myself as I led him to the section the librarian spoke of; he trailed behind me as he allowed his eyes to wander. The Harold Washington Library Center was a decent size; it was the largest library and the central branch of the Chicago Public Library.

When I had arrived at the mythology, I tossed a look behind my back before going further in the section. A label had stuck out that read 'Norse' and I stopped in front of it. My eyes narrowed at it. I walked a little further and allowed my eyes to look over each book. I took out two regarding mythology in general, _The Myth and Religion of the North_ and _The Dictionary of Northern Mythology._ I flipped through them both. "All of these are written by mortals, aren't they?" Loki scrunched his nose at the books in the cases.

I ignored him and went on to picking up some epics regarding it also, _The Prose Edda_, which my father actually had, and _The Poetic Edda. _"These are not going to be books to go by."

"The people who have wrote these studied _your_ culture, so it's better than nothing. You don't seem to have a lot of information about it other than what it does." The books felt heavy in my hands. I handed two over to Loki for him to hold for me. He reluctantly took them out of my hands. "_I_ am not a scholar of your culture."

"No mortal is. No mortal can even go to Asgard to study our culture." Loki had stated, his hand resting on top of the books as I crouched down, looking for a couple more. "These are written by imbeciles."

"I sometimes think that you would rather not want my help." I turned my head toward him abruptly, my brow furrowed at him. Loki looked up at me from my books. "Do me a favor, either be appreciative or leave. I am doing your bidding for nothing." I told him irritated as I looked back at the books. I heard a growl come from him and I expected my throat to be in his hands, but he didn't.

Instead he crouched down next to me, and then I felt his hand touch the back of my neck. I breathed in sharply, but I tried to make sure that I wasn't showing my anxiety on my face.

"Might I remind you that if you do not help me, that I will not hesitate in wringing this precious neck of yours," I tried to keep my breathing as he flattened his hand on my neck, rubbing it slightly. "I have your life at my very hands, it is plain to see that I have a strange effect on you, making you actually tremble every time I touch you." His hand continued to rub my neck and I looked down at it as it came to the front. My eyes narrowed down at it, never leaving his hand.

Loki then leaned in close to my ear, his breath going inside of it. I urged myself to breathe regularly. His voice was almost like a seductive purr as he whispered in my ear, "You are frightened of me. Don't try to deny it, I could see past you."

I turned my head at him. "You…" his face was so close to mine. My nose had lightly brushed his and I was faced with the intense gaze his eyes had, he had pushed his sunglasses down slightly. My eyes involuntarily glanced down at his lips that were pressed in a small smirk. His top lip was crafted in almost like a bow and as his lips were together, they both looked so soft. An awful thought passed through my head about how they would feel on me… but I had to get that thought away. I glanced back up at his eyes and tried again to say, "You do not intimidate me."

He chuckled lightly at me, "I beg to differ." I begged _myself_ to differ from him. His hand fell from my throat before he gestured toward the stacked books. "Now, Midgardian, do my 'bidding.' The faster I am out of this building, the better."

"I have a name." I told him, as he moved away from me. He remained crouched down next to me and looked over at me with an eyebrow perked. "I believe I told you to call me that, and if we _are_ living with each other, it would be best."

"How could I call you by your name if you didn't tell me it?"

"I did tell you it." I told him quickly, brushing hair behind my ear. I narrowed my eyes at him. He didn't remember me telling him my name? I remembered clearly. I did it several times when we had first met because I grew tired of him calling 'mortal' or 'Midgardian'. I decided to tell him it again, "To remind _you_ though, it's Alexandra Harmon… Alex for short."

"Fine, _Alexandra,_" he said. I nearly grimaced hearing my full name being used. No one really called me it any more, except on the rare occasion my mother. "Do what I say and continue on." He remained next to me as I turned my head, pulling out random books that I thought he could use. Sometimes I heard a scoff or a comment at times as I piled the last three of the books on top of one another.

All in all, I had taken out seven books. The librarian did give me a strange look, but she didn't question it. The books were due two weeks later, and I thought that to be enough time for Loki to get a handle on this… Brísingamen and where to find it.

Afterward, tired of seeing him in my ex's clothes, I decided to bring him to a store where he could buy clothing that was more to his… tastes. None of the clothes really were and I ended up picking most of his outfits and guessing his size since Jake's clothes barely had fit him. The pants were a little too short.

He used the eighty dollars he had won from me while I bought the rest of it with my credit card. I even bought him a couple of pairs of shoes. I decided to cook dinner for us with jarred Italian sauce and Rigatonis while he was hunched over on a sofa that he had claimed for himself with the seven books I had gotten for him. He didn't complain really as I cooked.

And if he did complain it was because I wanted to watch the news for the day. He, however, stayed in the living room while I was multi-tasking with cooking and watching the 5 o'clock news. Sometimes, I even saw him glance up when a certain story had come to pass. Sometimes, I would hear him scoff out, "Mortals," as his nose was stuck in the book. I stirred the macaroni in a pot and putting the spoon inside of it to scoop a single one up.

I dropped it in my mouth, burning my lip slightly. I ignored the split second pain before I chewed the Rigatoni in between my teeth, cringing at the slight crunching noise. They barely were cooked yet. I half listened to the news as I stood by the boiling water, watching the Rigatoni bubble up and fall, and feeling the steam rise up to my face. For once over these last couple of days, while standing there, I actually felt calm.

_**Thank you for all the support I received from last chapter! I was so happy to read your responses! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know that this story is going slow, but promise, it will pick up next chapter… and the next chapter is lengthy too—along with the one after that. I don't know when I'll post, but I'll try to soon. My midterms are coming up this week and college comes first :/. Thank you for reading and see you next time!**_

_**Review Reply:**_

_**Guest: Well, it is next time now :) Thank you for your review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**_


	5. Indebted To Him

_**Warning: In case there has to be one, mature themes are afoot, such as a lot of swearing and drugs.**_

* * *

_Indebted To Him_

_Falling was all he remembered. Falling into an endless fall while the stars in the night sky gleamed calmly around him, but below him a matter swirling in a hole threatened to swallow him up. Tears pricked his eyes as he watched both of his father and brother look down at him. One of them was crying out while they were holding onto each other, and for a moment, Loki had wondered why. Neither of them cared for him, not his father, and not even his brother. For a split second before he fell from the broken Bifrost Bridge, Loki had thought that Thor did care for him. But the thought disappeared just as it came. _

_Loki watched Thor shake him off cruelly from his scepter and Loki couldn't hold onto it, his hand slipping from it. Thor threw the scepter up at Odin as Loki fell into the endless abyss. He thought that they were brothers—though they weren't, but Thor did not yet know of his parentage. Thor still thought Loki was his brother, not the monster that he truly was. _

_No matter what he had done, no matter what he had said, he had expected Thor to take everything into account of what they had gone through all these years. Loki soon came to the conclusion that neither of them were crying out for him, he convinced himself that it was truly him who had his hand outstretched toward them and crying for one of them to still help him._

_Neither of them did. Loki was helpless. The tears streamed down from his eyes as his body was hurled toward the wormhole. A thought had just occurred to him that he was about to _die_. He was really going to die so soon, wasn't he? _

_No matter what either of them thought, Loki knew he was a good ruler deep down. He had a plan, a plan to destroy the awful race that plagued Asgard and the other Eight Realms (including its own realm) for years. Jotunheim was a place where the monsters Asgardians told their kids of to put them to sleep at night. It was the place of cruel, cold creatures. It was the place where they had a plan to ruin all of Asgard. It was also a place where he had come from… _

_He thought Odin would be proud of him—how wrong was he to think that. Odin was just as thick as Thor, apparently._

_How could he have not seen what Loki had done? Loki would have secured the peace in Asgard! He would have prevented a war that would have began! Without those… those awful creatures roaming the Realms, everything would have gone well!_

_Now, he was a disgrace in Odin's eye. An actual disgrace when all he did, or he had planned to do was for the better of Asgard. He was a great King—a King who would have stopped at nothing to protect his Realm and the others. It unnerved him to no end that that wasn't seen. And because it wasn't seen, Loki felt a deep sense of hatred develop within him. A hatred that he had never felt before._

_So, his fall was endless. It wasn't to be stopped anytime soon. He felt his body burn up as it hurtled through the wormhole, his vision being clouded with different colors that were spread due to the Bifrost. Loki was as good as dead at this point—and he was going to die all too soon. He had a purpose now. What was the purpose? Well, it was but a simple, measly purpose to be burdened with. But his purpose was to be placed upon the throne of Asgard again, rule with the golden scepter that Odin held dear to him once more, and bring forth a new age. Thor could not be the King of Asgard—especially with the sentiment he had getting in the way. It was supposed to be him._

_His purpose was glorious, but it held a great burden. A burden that he was now going to be carrying to his grave. But just as the thought of going to his grave past through, he was pulled away from his fall. Yelping in surprised, he flailed his arms as the force from outside of the wormhole pulled him out. He took a deep breath as he was thrown out of the wormhole. His body fell to the ground, his arm immediately aching from falling on top of it._

_Loki had grown, pushing himself up as his head slowly rose. His eyes had taken in what was around him. As dark as the ground was, the sky was just the same. This wasn't an Asgardian sky that he had grown accustomed to. His hands felt around him to feel a rocky grain, his nails digging into it slightly. He wasn't familiar with this realm before and it brought his stomach to turn anxiously. Footsteps began to approach him, and Loki did not dare to look up. It was only until he heard a loud, booming voice that made him look up with confusion, "You are Loki of Asgard." _

_When Loki had looked up, he saw a towering dark figure, both menacing and powerful, looking down at him. His eyes were a mixture of blue and purple and his nose was that of a cow's, scrunched up permanently while making his chin more dominant in form. He wore armor of that of a warlord and a dark helmet that seemed to tell Loki that he was getting prepared for a war. After looking him over, Loki slowly nodded his head, sitting up as the figure continued to look down at him._

_Loki thought that he if he spoke to this… thing, he would sound more frightened. But he had surprised himself when he sounded brave. "Who are you?" He had asked. The figure didn't answer, but instead he awarded him with a twisted smile, showing his rigid teeth._

A gasp of air filled as he abruptly sat up from where he was. His chest fell in up and down in a quick rhythm as a cold sweat broke over his forehead, collecting along his brow. Loki stared out, his hand going through his dark, raven hair. His eyes searched the room he was in, not recognizing it at first, and he had to blink several times just so his eyes could adjust to the darkness of the room. He felt something fall off his shoulder and he looked carefully next to him to see that it was pale-colored blanket. His brow furrowed at that, he didn't remember covering himself with it.

Loki brushed off the rest of the blanket away from him and looked forward to see a book opened on the table still. It had been two weeks since he had gone to the library—two weeks, and he hadn't found anything of what might have happened with the Brísingamen. Everything that he read was either not true at all, or things that he had already known. He rubbed his hand across his face, shifting his jaw slightly before closing the book on the table.

He looked over to Alexandra's bedroom, the door being firmly closed, but he noticed the light to be still on. Loki raised his eyebrow at this before he stood up. He walked slowly over to her room, carefully weaving around the chairs and furniture in his way. He stopped at her door, pressing his ear against it. Loki's hand curled around the doorknob and when he had heard nothing come from the other side, he slowly opened the door.

"Ale—." He stopped himself short when he saw that there was no one in the room. Her bed was neatly made with a Midgardian piece of technology he had seen her use several times on top of it. He had forgotten the name, but he hadn't even cared to _actually_ remember the name anyway. His nose scrunched up slightly and he had noticed her clothes from earlier were scattered across the floor. Loki wondered as his curiosity peaking and he entered fully in her room.

The door to her closet was open and he allowed his eyes to search what was really in there. There were plastic bins filled to the brim of what he assumed to be momentums from her past. He didn't care to look through that. There were several different type of coats and pairs of shoes, while also having a few outfits hanging from metal hangers. Loki then looked up to see something dangling from the top shelf. He had seen her closet before, but there was never something dangling. This was new.

He slowly reached up, the fabric of it scratching his hand as he pulled down on it. This wasn't a piece of clothing, nor was it really fabric. He rubbed it in between his fingers and even brought it to his nose sniff it. Loki threw it back in the closet, the stench of it already made his stomach turn for the worse.

Knowing full well that sleep would not come to him, he strode over to the Midgardian instrument—honestly, what was it? She had called it a… computer, maybe? He hunched over it slightly, his hand lightly touching the keys with their various letters. The screen was up still and Loki's brow furrowed when he saw that what she had up on the screen looked to be directions.

His mouth pursed itself and he glanced up at the computer's time to see that it was well over 2 in the morning. Asgard had a different basis of time, but Loki knew very well that it was late for someone to be out in Midgard—he had been in this realm for almost a week. "Oh, Alexandra, where have you gone?" He murmured as he memorized the screen in front of him.

And then, with a smirk coming onto his face, Loki took several steps back, straightening himself before he left her bedroom, shutting the light and closing the door behind him.

* * *

I closed my eyes, letting a peaceful puff of smoke be let out. I flexed my legs on a lawn chair as I sat in the backyard of Manny's house. "How much did you pay for this shit?" I asked him, letting myself actually feel relaxed for once this week, or these two weeks rather. I cracked open an eye, holding the joint in my hand. Manny looked over at me as he counted the cash I had given him before, he didn't yet answer me. I chuckled lightly before pressing the joint against my lips. I told him, "It's fucking amazing."

"And why do you care?" Manny had asked me, earning a shrug of my shoulders. I inhaled slightly before letting it out. It was rare for me to actually smoke, especially smoke weed. When I had called Manny earlier, after stating that I'd even give him some money for it, he was surprised and gave me this address that was really on the outskirts of where I was. I had to look it up on Google to get the directions. "Where'd you get this fucking money anyway?"

"Does it matter?" I inquired to him lazily. I was already feeling lightheaded. The smoke and the smell coming from the burning joint made me smile calmly.

He laughed at me dryly, "This is a lot of money. You didn't fucking earn it from that little trick ya do."

"You're right, I didn't fucking do it from that little trick I do." I tell him, my smile easily twisting up into a smirk. "I'll keep that though as my secret." I put a finger to my lips as I smoked out some more. This only left Manny to assume where I had gotten it. His assumptions though were sometimes out of this world, nearly impossible to happen.

"You fucked people over for it?"

"If you mean in the rhetorical sense, yeah, I did." I told him flatly before sticking the joint in my mouth once again. "Now, I told you my answer. You tell me yours. Where'd you get this sweet stuff?"

"Got it from this guy, Willis." He admitted to me, counting the cash still. I had earned at least 200 dollars tonight. The card trick wasn't what I did. I had Ty actually help me and gave him a bit of what I had scammed out of a guy that was twice my size. I nodded my head at that, knowing a guy named Willis and immediately thought about him. I thought that maybe I should give him a call sometime and discuss a certain business proposition. Manny was too expensive for selling me stuff that he hadn't even grown himself.

Manny finally finished separating his money from mine before handing it over to me. I laid the cash in my lap as I finished the joint. He had taken at least fifty from me for thirty dollars worth of weed that we would've shared. Like I said—he was too expensive for my liking. "Why'd you call me?" Manny asked me after a moment.

"I think it's obvious, Emmanuel." I said to him, not even opening my eyes. I did perk my eyebrows as I leaned my head back. I flicked the butt of my joint in the grass next to me.

"You barely smoke," he said to me slowly. I opened my eyes as I went to the table in between us. I carefully separated the weed with a square piece of paper, licking the edges of it before beginning to roll my joint. I felt Manny's eyes on top of my hands and I took the thin joint up. He narrowed his eyes at it as I took the lighter from the table. "But you roll like you know what you're doing."

"I've rolled my own joints before, thank you." I told him, shaking my head as I lean back in my chair. "And I just need… to relax."

"Relax from what?" Manny scoffed at me, beginning to roll his own. As a puff of smoke escaped my lips, I glared over at him. "You're single, get money the easy way, and still have your good looks, and how old are you?"

"Twenty-five." I told him flatly. Not bothering with correcting the fact that my money came easy. I worked a day job that I could barely even hold and I had risked my neck far too many times lately.

"Oh, I thought you were older." He commented to me. I rolled my eyes; my lightheadedness was barely there now. Sometimes I could be lightheaded just from thinking it. I was going to have to either use a bong or roll a blunt before I would actually get high. I inhaled from the joint. "I mean… I know about Ve—."

"Jake told you about Vegas, didn't he?" I asked him abruptly. I didn't receive an answer and I stuck the joint in my mouth, leaning my head back and shaking it. I held it out as I scoffed, "That guy's a douche."

"Listen, I fully support your career choice." Manny said to me quickly. I quirked an eyebrow before I glanced over at him. He had his hands out on either side of him as if he was about to say something offensive to me. "And… maybe next time I want in." I stared at him in disbelief—to actually have an idiot involved with me was a funny thought and to me, was stupid. "If you teach me of course."

"I can't teach you addition and subtraction and ratios and the rules. It's a lot more harder than you think it is." I told him honestly. If I were to go back, I needed someone who would hold his or her own with me and who would do as I say. I didn't need a repeat of last time. I didn't want an idiot and he was one when pushed come to shove. "And if I do something like that, I wouldn't go there. Atlantic City would be better before I decide on risking myself again." They were idiots at AC. In Vegas, they had the fancy technology that could recognize your face. Atlantic City might have a lot of tables on lockdown too, but they didn't have as many people watching you with narrowed eyes behind sunglasses.

I was in the face recognition system. If I walked inside a hotel in Sin City, I would be done for. "Fine, I get it. I'm too damn stupid."

"No, don't be too hard on yourself." I told him mockingly, smoking my joint before deciding on just letting it burn out. "I'd say just stupid."

"But is that what's the matter with you?" He asked me reluctantly. I shook my head no at him. I had gotten over that night the same night like I had done with everything in my life. I wasn't the type to get upset or hold grudges for a long time. "The break up causing you stress?" I shook my head no at that also. "Then what's wrong, Alex?"

I waved a dismissive hand at him, "I can't just smoke because I want to?" I couldn't tell him what was wrong, if I told him what was wrong, I didn't know what I would do. Manny would tell me the things that I was telling myself, I didn't need anything repeated for me. And if I told him, I think there would have been a bed waiting for me in the psych ward. I just needed to smoke to get away from my apartment… to get away from… I shook my head mentally at this. Perhaps… maybe I could _tell_ him and brush it off like I was high and made the whole thing up. He would think I was delusional, but I would be high—or close to being high, as I told him my story—no, I didn't want to risk it.

Loki had been in my home now for two weeks. I had been leaving him alone in there, giving him food and water as if he was a dog. He did what he had to do, and I would have rather kept our relationship like that. I didn't exactly help him find his… _thing_. I left him to it and I found excuses such as shopping with money that I didn't have and going to Dunkin Donuts, making it a daily habit and spending hours there. I even called Quinn a couple of times to be with her. One night, I spent it at her apartment. I had gone to my corner sometimes, but hadn't hustled as I would. I talked with whoever was there. In fact, that night was one of the few I had done some hustling in a while. Though what Loki had done was with magic, it had wounded my ego a bit. I would never admit that to him.

That night, I just needed to leave. I was prepared to kick Loki out when he made a comment to me about this, how I wasn't around to help. What did he need help with? Studying books?

No, thank you. I needed to leave the apartment—_my_ apartment, mind you.

He fell asleep though on the couch, with a book opened on the coffee table, after I had slammed the door to my bedroom. When I was about to leave to meet Manny, I took note of it, walked over to Loki, and draped a blanket over him. I didn't have any explanation for my actions, but sometimes I felt that Loki was a misunderstood child that didn't get his way.

Like me, almost, but our tantrums were different. A lot different. I didn't kill off hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals.

He had waited for my answer for a while, smoking an even smaller joint. He waited roughly five minutes for an answer that I didn't want to tell him, and maybe he sensed that.

He furrowed his brow at me before sighing, flicking the end of his joint into the grass. "Ever think about dealing?" He asked me randomly. I frowned at the question before looking over at him and sitting up. "I'm serious."

"I never said you weren't." I stated to him slowly. One thing I would never do was get into this business. I'd buy from it, sure. I had bought a dime of weed before, but to actually be part of it? I shook my head at him, "I'd rather scam, thank you." I told him honestly.

"I'll get you started. We start with weed and then we'll work our way to the nice, big stuff. Good money in it."

"Don't I know it?" I laughed at him, glancing down at my still burning joint. If he had noticed me just burning it out, I think he would have been pissed. "I like good money. But I don't want to get involved in the drug trade. I heard stories and that's not my thing."

"It's not the same thing with pot." Manny told me, as if to persuade me in saying yes. "You're a good business woman."

I retorted to him, flicking my joint before going back to roll another. I paid for it and I was going to smoke it. "I'm a good liar, not business woman."

"Not really a difference is there?" Manny challenged me, leaning forward in his chair slightly. I paused before looking up at him slowly, trying to send him a scolding look. This was not a topic that was really up for discussion with me. I didn't want to be the person responsible for dealing to a few teenagers who need to get high to experience it. It was only marijuana, _pot_, but I knew what it led to if you didn't control it. It was good for me to smoke once in a while. Those hands were back up and he stood, looking toward the house. "Fine, I get it. You staying here?"

"Until what I got is done," I told him simply, finishing my joint before leaning back. "Why? Are you leaving me?"

"I have a family," Manny mentioned to me, gesturing toward his house. He was selling me drugs, in his backyard, while having a family in the house in front of him? Oh wasn't he just a prime husband to have? "I think my wife would be wondering where I was if I'm not in bed in five minutes."

I joked with him, gesturing between the two of us. "She could join us here, we're not doing anything."

"Alex," he started to me. "Just… if you're staying here, leave by sunrise. I don't need my kid to see a woman sleeping back here."

"The fact that you even letting a strange woman stay in your backyard to smoke pot while _you_ go in bed with your wife is even worse." I retorted to him. "But… I'll be here for an hour, nothing more." Manny stared at me for a moment, as if he was judging what I had just told him, and then I saw him nod his head. I held up my hand and gave him a small wave of it as he retreated back to his house. I lit my joint reluctantly as my eyes stayed on him. He closed the door to his house, shut out the light to his kitchen, and then I assumed he went ahead to his bedroom. We only had met four times before. Two of those times I had called to smoke, the other two was because we went to a bar with Jake and a few others.

My eyes were drawn to the cash in my lap before I decided to count it. I stuck the joint in my mouth; inhaling and exhaling it slowly through the thin slit my lips had left. He trusted me easily, but I didn't trust him so easily. I smirked to myself actually surprised that everything was there and stuck it in my purse that was laying in the grass next to me. I closed my eyes, letting the smoke float up to my face, caressing my nose before I took the joint out, flicking it away from me immediately and standing up, collecting my purse.

I kept my eyes on the house as I stomped the remains of my weed before collecting the rest of it in my plastic bag. Just in case I wanted to smoke for later. I said an hour to only satisfy him. He should have stayed with me, but like I said, he was stupid (like I was). I stuffed that bag in my purse before I adjusted the strap.

Yes, I had intentions on smoking here, to relieve some stress, but I also had other intentions… that actually were brought to light a few minutes ago when he left me.

I walked away from the table before going over to his garden. My eyes were still on the house. I brushed my hands together before crouching down, being shocked by the fact that there was actual roses in this garden. I scrunched my nose as the smell mixed with the smell of weed clouded my nostrils and carefully weaved my hand to the back. My hand brushed against the siding and slowly I found a single rock, a large one that my hand fell on top of.

My smirk had grown, and aside from getting pricked from a thorn, I was happy. I pushed it to the side weakly and felt the dirt for something that had a paper form to it. I pulled the few bills that were there and then carefully slipped out my hand. Feeling another prick, I shook out my hand as I took out the bills that were hidden there.

The porch light provided me with enough light to see that what he had hidden four hundreds sitting under that rock. "Wow, you were right, dealing does have good money." I muttered under my breath before sticking it in my purse. After this, I knew I was not going to be giving Emmanuel Domingo another call in my life. I laughed softly to myself before standing up. I did lose fifty tonight, but I had gotten four hundred more. I had earned five hundred and fifty dollars altogether tonight.

Served him right though. He told me once that he had left his stash there while drunk one time. It had occurred to me that he told me shortly after he left. This was going to be a lesson for him—do not tell someone noteworthy for being a conniving thief where you hid your stash, especially while drunk. This wasn't money though that he had kept aside for a rainy day. No, there would be a lot more money hidden somewhere. This was money that he hid away for a quick emergency.

I stood straight up before swiftly moving across the yard to leave. My car was a block over and if I walked I think the lightheadedness I did feel a little bit would leave. I was careful to not be too loud, letting my feet crunch the grass lightly and I lifted the gate's latch silently before letting my feet take me away from the backyard.

But as I turned to go in front of the house so I could make my way, Manny was there waiting for me. "Leaving so soon?" He asked me. I stopped short, holding my purse tightly in my hand. Well… this was a surprise.

No matter how many times I did something not smart, no matter how many stupid decisions I admit to making, I think this had to be the stupidest, looking back now. I denied that I let my judgment be clouded for so long on this night. But, looking back now, I know that my judgment was practically gone and knowing what I know of Emmanuel, even after this night from what I found out about him, I don't think I would have even thought to steal that money—or even going there.

I nodded my head slowly to him, forcing a smile to come on my face. I told him, "Yeah, I just got a text and something has come up."

"Something has come up at 2:30 in the morning?" He asked me in disbelief. I thought for a moment, going through my small lie and realizing that it was stupid of me to lie like that. I was taught better. "That's a bit sketchy."

"My duty calls," I told him quickly. "I have other people as friends, you know. I need to help with something that needs two people." That was more believable. I congratulated myself with that. Manny looked at me carefully, his eyebrow raising up as he took a step close to me. I perked a brow. "Didn't you say your wife was waiting for you to go to bed?" I asked him curiously.

"I don't have a wife." He admitted to him with a chuckle. I furrowed my brow and frowned at him. That was… he lied to me about that? I gripped at my strap even tighter and took a step back away from him, looking him up and down. Something was in his eyes that told me that I was in trouble. "Or a kid, I lied. I'm good at that sometimes."

"Oh…" I told him slowly. He continued to look at me as I drew my eyes to the solid ground. This could go one or two ways. I could keep talking with him to see what the hell was going on or run the hell to my car. I swallowed before looking up at him, noticing that his quiet steps had come closer to me. "Then in that case… I think I should get going now."

"The money." He said to me simply as I started to try and walk past him. His hand was held out and this time it was in the way of a surrender, or to prevent offense. It was a way for me to stay.

The money. Shit. I tried to remain calm in front of him. I kept my lips pursed and looked him straight in the eye as my hand still gripped at my purse tightly.

"What money?" I asked him, trying to sound honest and genuine.

"Come on, I leave a woman like you in my backyard alone and don't expect you to go and grab some extra cash?" He replied to me almost incredulously. I gritted my teeth together, trying not to lose my composure still. But this was going to end really badly. I wasn't stealing from a good friend I was stealing from a good friend who his crotch sometimes held a gun inside of it. "I'm not an idiot."

I looked at him carefully, letting my lips twist up into a smirk. "Are you so sure about that?" I asked him.

"Stop being a smartass, Alex. I just want my money back."

"I'm not being a smartass," I told him, my smirk growing slightly. I pushed my purse slightly behind me. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about."

"Stop…" he told me slowly, "I don't want to do something that I don't want to do… give me back my money."

"What exactly are you planning to do?" I asked him, almost sounding concerned. I moved slightly away from his hand before I felt him grab my wrist tightly. His hold on me was squeezing my wrist, cutting off my circulation. "Yo… this isn't funny, Manny." I told him slowly, my wrist already aching. I looked up into his brown eyes to see something I had never seen there before. "Manny, I don't have your money." I said to him quickly, my words almost falling on top of each other. My eyes had widened wide as I struggled against his hold. "I swear to god, I don't have your money."

"I saw you take it!" He exclaimed to me, his grip on me getting tighter. "Are you really that stupid that you'd fucking risk your life over money?"

"Manny," I started to him, trying to sound calm but my voice trembled. My thoughts were going a million miles per hour as he looked directly into my eyes. A vein in his long neck was throbbing and his dark hair was falling into his eyes. His crooked teeth were gritted together. Ty's words had gone through my head at this very moment and I wished I would just listen to them. 'People get touchy over money.' I should just give him back his money, walk away, and never come back. But I wasn't that type of person to just walk away. "I… I swear to god, I didn't take it."

Manny gave me an incredulous look, for a split second, I thought that he was going to let me go. But, hell, I was stupid to even think that. He had a gun in his crotch, hidden. I should have known better. The whole thing with his wife and kid was a trap to catch me in stealing from him. It happened quickly. I only had time to struggle out of his hold even further and gasp as I stared at the barrel of his gun being pointed straight at me.

I shook my head slowly at him, my wrist twisting and turning to get away from him. "You don't want to do this." I said to him slowly, still trying to remain calm and not let any part of me actually quiver. "Put that away."

"Give me the money." He said to me slowly. "If you give me it, then you could go on with your life."

"Even if I did have it and… and gave it to you, you would put a bullet in my back." I said to him slowly, my eyes being locked onto the barrel. I could only imagine the bullet coming straight at me. The pain would be quick if he had gotten the right angle. I liked my life too much. I should give him the money, but it was too late now anyway. I glanced back up at him to see a smirk on his face. I was right. He would shoot me no matter what would happen. This whole thing was all pointless and he just liked to watch me squirm before him. "Get rid of the gun and I'll consider."

"No." I stared into his eyes, keeping my breathing even. I was screaming inside. To further it, he pressed the barrel in my chest. I could feel the coldness of it through my shirt. It took all I could muster to not look down at it. I was waiting for the bullet. He knew I was waiting for the bullet now. I didn't want to die, but hell, I was growing so impatient.

"If you are planning to shoot me, then do it. Don't waste your time." I told him through my teeth. This was trying. He was _playing_ with me. He pressed the gun further in my chest and I saw a slight reluctance strike his eyes. Maybe I could taunt him enough to get rid of the gun? He didn't want to kill me, I saw it, but would that work or provoke him to actually pull that trigger? "You're going to bitch out on this?" I asked him, despite of everything sounding amused. He had a gun at my chest, asking for money that I wasn't going to give him, and yet he had the audacity to show that there was the slightest chance that he wouldn't do it?

If you asked me now what the hell was going through my head, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I pushed myself against the barrel, tightening it there. "You want your money do you? You know I'm not going to fucking give it to you." I told him slowly. Now, I didn't care about me. He glared at me and then I said to him slowly. "You're going to let me talk to you like this? I have your money and not going to give it back! You got me, shoot me so you could end this."

"You… aren't—."

"I am fucking scared, but you are too." I admitted to him coldly, seeing his brow being pulled together. "You pulled out the fucking thing, you are planning to use it, and I'm not going to stop you. How could I? Stop playing with me and pull the trigger." I said to him, noticing now how cold it was outside. I could see my breath leave my mouth as I spoke. Manny stared at me for a moment, and I looked away from him to see that his hand was curling around the trigger.

I was starting to brace myself for the bullet to go through me. I closed my eyes and waited.

But it didn't go through me, nor was it released.

I didn't hear it fire, but I heard a swift movement of footsteps come our way, the gun had lightened its pressure against me, and then I heard a cut off 'what' followed by a snap.

My eyes opened wide as I saw Manny's body being twisted around, someone hands clutching his throat. I swallowed as I took a step back. My eyes being locked on Manny's body as I watched the man being dropped to the ground. I had forgotten how to breathe as I stared down at the now dead body of Emmanuel Domingo, the man that I had called a friend with a gun that I stole money from a few moments ago.

Oh God… Oh my fucking God. I didn't say anything. I stared at the body. My hands fell to my side. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to breathe still, and I didn't even know how to walk. I didn't know how to move my head to tear my eyes off of Manny. I was… Should I cry out for help? Should I call for help? Call? I couldn't even talk. I couldn't even crouch down to check his pulse to make sure if he even was alive. But, the street lamps aided me enough to see that he wasn't breathing. His neck was…

My eyes lingered at the man's neck, nearly grimacing when I saw how his face was in the grass. There was barely neck. It was almost as if every individual bone was broken inside of it.

I nearly had forgotten about the fact that I had his money. The money was the least of my problems. I now had to deal with a body.

It was quick how my mind rebooted after staring at him, nearly gawking at him. My mind suddenly felt like a machine, trying to figure what to do and how to do it before I realized that I wasn't here alone.

I didn't kill him.

I didn't actually do anything but steal from him.

I chewed on my bottom lip anxiously before slowly looking up at a tall figure of a man—but he wasn't a man. His voice came to me as smooth as ever as he laid a hand on my shoulder.

This time it wasn't as bad as it was before. I didn't fear him like I had. His voice though was a blur. He said something along the lines of 'time to go' and led me away from Manny. I didn't speak to him. I didn't even say thank you.

I was already trembling with the phone in my hand instead, walking with Loki to my car. I searched through my phone for someone, anyone that would be able to help me. My mind was racing, but I knew I had to have to do something that was clear and cut first before going off the handle.

Like calling 911.

I was stupid though. 911 didn't even exist in my contacts and I didn't even think of it. I texted a friend of mine instead, but he was like Manny. I couldn't speak over the phone; if I did I think I would have broken down. I would be fine with a text.

_**Gary, Manny's dead. Tried to kill me. Need help getting rid of him.**_

Honestly, it was a text that I never thought I would have to write. I was usually the one to be killed, not the one that had to recover from someone being killed. I watched too many movies about others killing others and figuring out how to get rid of a body immediately after. I thought that was what I had to do first before going over in my head what had happened. It might have not been the most normal thing to do, but to me it was rational for a completely irrational situation.

I figured Gary would know how to do things like this and if Gary asked me the details, I would give him them. Gary was smart… I didn't know why he would know this, but I knew he would help me. Out of all my ex's friends, I trusted him the most. Also, at this point, I was convinced Gary was part of the Chicago mafia. I doubted that he was, but maybe that was why I texted him. I received a text a minute later. I was vaguely aware of Loki's hand still on me.

_**Why's he dead? Alex, where are you?**_

_**Someone killed him. I don't know what to do. I'm going to my car but his body's in front of his house.**_

My hands fumbled with the text but I tried hard to actually compose it. Loki was silent and I expected him to insult me all the way to the car. But I felt his eyes on my fingers as I typed out my texts and as I received them. Gary wanted the full story and I gave it to him, excluding Loki. I told him about how I went there to relax, he left me alone, I stole from him because I knew where his stash was, he pulled out a gun, and some random person came up behind him and snapped his neck like a twig. He told me that I should call the police and not him and I told him I couldn't do that. I had weed on me and I wanted to go home, not wait around for a cop to show.

He then said that he would go to the house and take care of it.

He was taking this all too calmly for my liking, but maybe it was common to have this happen. He told me to go home.

Maybe he was part of the Chicago mafia and took care of these things often.

We soon made it to my car and I paused before getting in it. "Thank you," I muttered to Loki before going in my car. Loki stared at me for a moment before opening his side and stepping in the car, sitting down next to me. It took all of me to not breakdown in front of him. I threw my purse in the backseat, biting down on my bottom lip.

"That was stupid of you." Loki had commented to me. I didn't know if I should be upset by that comment or laugh at it because it was or to just remain silent. "If I had been late, then you would have been dead because of that man."

"I know," I said to him, nodding my head. "Thank you."

I pressed the button to my car to start it, letting it run for a moment. Loki and I fell into a silence and I hate to say this, but at that moment, I enjoyed his company. I was lucky right now. I didn't care that he killed a body. "What did you do to upset that dim-witted mortal that he threatened you with that weapon?" Loki inquired to me as I tightened the grip on my steering wheel. I shifted the gear before I gently pulled away from the curb.

I tried to easily control my driving, trying not to let my mind really wander back to what just happened. It was a failed attempt. I wanted to scream in anguish and cry all night—not over Manny, over the fact that I almost allowed myself to die and that I was stupid enough to actually—literally—push him to do it. To pull that trigger. I drove with one hand and bit down on my knuckle. Loki's voice came again, "Well, don't remain silent, Alexandra. Answer me."

It was a demand, but a soft demand. I obliged. "I stole from him." My voice came out hoarse and I was trying to brace myself for the fifteen-minute drive we were going to go through. But then…

"How did you find me? Or… get there?" I hadn't told him where I had gone, nor had I left money for him to get a cab. He was asleep. The questions I asked briefly brought me out of the mindset that I might have been responsible for a dead body and almost dead myself.

Loki answered me, "Your Midgardian technology was open and I had gotten a set of directions." My Midgardian… oh, he was talking about my laptop. "I walked to find you."

He actually walked? "And…" I swallowed before going on, "when did you figure out I was gone?"

"Fifteen minutes ago maybe even more." Loki answered with a wave of his hand. My eyes almost widened at that and I looked over at him in disbelief. "We are far more able to walk faster and further than you Midgardians."

"And… I don't question it." I said to him with a slight, genuine smile. I glanced over at him and then said again, "Thank you."

"That is the third time you have said that, mortal." Even his slip of mortal did not upset me. I was grateful. I stopped at a red light and took my knuckle away from my mouth. "And you reek of a dreadful smell." He had added to the fact. Despite everything, I could have chuckled at him. I was happy for once that someone could smell the stench of weed off of me. I didn't make a reply as I continued to drive us to my apartment.

"I am forever in your debt." I murmured to him eventually, turning onto a main road. I felt his eyes on me then and what I had just said might have sounded like a joke but it was actually something that was the truth. A terrorist wouldn't have done what he had just done. He might have let it happen to anyone, since I was the one helping him, he really couldn't just let me die. But he could have. I annoyed him to no end, I mocked him constantly, and I sometimes barely acknowledge his presence as he did with me. "And I'm serious."

"I never doubted that you weren't," Loki muttered to me, but I could hear the surprise laced in his voice as he spoke. "Just… don't expect it to happen again." He added after a moment before going silent.

I smirked in spite of everything, "Wouldn't dream of it."

I parked in my space in the garage and walked with him the rest of the way to the apartment. He unlocked the door for me and I threw my purse onto the counter. Loki watched me as I stood there for a moment. My back was finally to him and I allowed myself to finally let what was stinging in my eyes stream from them.

My hand covered my mouth feeling something come up; my breathing had become rigid as my body started to tremble. My other hand had turned to that of an animal's, my nails trying to scratch the counter.

I almost had forgotten about Loki as I gasped against my hand. I let out a cry against it, feeling my chest swell as I quickly pushed my purse off of the counter and walked away from the kitchen. Whatever was coming up in my throat was coming up fast.

I slammed the bathroom door behind me, letting my body collapse before the toilet as I felt my throat grow warmer. Then I dropped my hand feeling the chunks of my dinner skim my tongue in the most ungraceful fashion and hurled whatever I could from my mouth. My hand and a bit of my hair had gotten in the way as the vomit splattered all over the toilet.

The smell of weed, grape jelly, and peanut butter along with the smell of bodily fluids that should just stay in the body made me want to vomit again.

I heaved in breaths as quickly as I could as a cold sweat broke over my forehead. I shook my head as I closed my eyes tightly. I felt the drool from my mouth drip down and my nose actually run with snot, as I had let out a cry that I had never thought to let out in my life. It was a hoarse cry and sounded strangled.

My heart rate though was the only thing that was able to block out any other cry that came from my mouth. I only let out three cries before I thought it all to be enough.

I soon gripped the edge of my sink and pulled myself up on my feet. My legs had wobbled as I looked in the mirror. I wiped at my mouth to get rid of an excess chunk before running the water, my breathing still being rushed, heaving in and out. My nostrils flared as I splashed the water onto my face, before scrubbing it. The water on my face only calmed me down a little and I glanced over at the toilet before stretching over to it to flush it.

I took out the cleaning supplies, still shaking as I had begun the process of cleaning. My hands fumbled with the Clorox as I carefully wiped up what I had done. I held my breath while cleaning, ignoring the ache in my stomach and in my throat. I almost died tonight… I almost died tonight and I was too stupid to just do what he had asked from the beginning. I was just… I was just stupid the whole entire time that night.

If I gave him the money right away, would he still have shot me? He would have either way after he pulled it out, but before he did… would he have pulled out the gun to shoot me anyway?

I wouldn't know.

I turned the shower on once I had finished cleaning and left the bathroom. Loki didn't even look over at me as I collected my pajamas. He was looking in a book, but he wasn't reading. His eyes were stuck on the same spot when I left and came in the room.

He was listening to me from outside. Just what I needed, him knowing that I was such a weak girl who cried because she almost died and saw a dead body.

My shower was what I needed. The stench of the weed had gotten off of me and the water washed the horror off of me. The millions of joints in the world would never have calmed me down like the cold shower had done. I didn't want to get out of it once it neared its end. The whole time though I stood under the head and watched the tile in front of me. I did less of what you were supposed to do in the shower, but I did wash my hair and myself. I stepped out after at least a half hour, dried myself off and slipped on my pajamas before collecting my stuff.

My thoughts somewhat disappeared. I was almost like a vegetable walking out of the bathroom. I threw my clothes though in the hamper in my room before going in there. I glanced at my bed though and quickly changed my mind. Instead I moved into the living room, sat down next to Loki, propped my feet on my coffee table, and took one of the books in my hand.

For the fourth time, I said, "Thank you."

He could have scowled at me for being foolish to say that again. He could have even knocked some sense in me. What he had done could have only been for his own selfish purpose—he wouldn't have done that for anyone unless it benefitted him, I wasn't a complete fool. I was a fool that survived though. Loki though looked over at me, and pushed the hair away from my face. It wasn't a romantic gesture. I knew it wasn't.

It was comforting, if anything, for me. He didn't say anything to me back. But then it occurred to me, "You didn't save me though because you actually… care about me, did you?" I looked over at Loki, who looked back at me with his eyebrow raised. But he didn't answer me still. "You… you wouldn't have just saved me if I wasn't going to help you. Y-You knew that if you helped me, that I would do everything willingly."

"You hold me to such a low standard." Loki said to me slowly. He propped the book up he had in his hands and looked down at it. "But maybe you aren't as moronic as your actions may be." He did do it for his own selfish reason and for some reason I was okay with it. I was completely fine with that.

Why was I? I didn't die that night. It was selfish that my life was spared while Manny's wasn't, it was selfish that I didn't even feel remorse after seeing his body fall to the ground, it was selfish how I thought about Manny's death altogether. I wasn't dead though and that was all that mattered. You learn something sometimes, especially if you are in my shoes, everyone's greedy and it would be naïve of me to actually be mad that Loki killed him when I was the one that got out of this alive.

That night we stayed by each other's side, not speaking a word, and searched for anything relating to the Brísingamen and where it would be.

_A few notes before you review, I called this chapter that would either make or break the story because of its sudden input and randomness in the story. I stayed up all night one night, actually I think to 4 in the morning writing this chapter the exact same day I wrote it, but it wasn't meant to be… this. I was going to do something… a lot more, uh, not this, but it didn't turn out that way. In fact, this wasn't even supposed to be this long. _

_Before anyone corrects me and say that Loki wasn't thrown from the Bifrost, I know. Just in case. In the Avengers, he stated how he viewed that moment and it was obvious that he suffered from delusions of grandeur. I thought it likely that he still did even after New York..._

_Now, this changed Alex's attitude about Loki and believe it or not, she actually has complete loyalty to him and is in his debt, which was the purpose of the chapter. I could have wrote what happened during the course of those two weeks, a scene maybe, but hell, I don't think you wanted banter when we could have some action and move this story right along. And it will move along. The next two chapters are written, they just need to be revised and edited! I think I actually have a good handle of where this story is headed. There are reasons to my insanity… surprisingly._

_This note was a lot longer, but I shortened it. Yeah, I ramble a lot and if you want to hear my rambles you could always pm me because they go on for ages. But, a__h, so thank you for reading my unnecessary notes, I don't know I'm tired and stuff and thank you for the support I received from last chapter! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I am going to try and update by the end of this week, maybe._

_Until next time!_

_Tiana :) AKA, Why Fireflies Flash_

_P.S. If you haven't liked the Facebook page yet, that is okay. But soon, I will be posting face characters for this story and character bios on OCs. The preview I may post tomorrow quickly before my midterm. I also have a tumblr blog for writing, the link is on my profile, but honestly, I don't update it, I am on the Facebook page much more. I enjoy connecting through that page with you guys :) so if you want check it out. I may do the face characters now because all I want to do is procrastinate and distract myself from studying. But… yeah, maybe I should hit those books… Now I'm done talking, go on, go and review or whatever your heart desires! New character next chapter, actually two new characters! ;)_


	6. The Woman With Many Faces

_**Warning: Long, really long chapter, I'm sorry for the length and even tried to cut it down, but if I did, anywhere would have been a mean cliffhanger. And a potential NSFW moment, **__**potential**_

_**Meaning, you guys may hate me. Enjoy!**_

_The Woman With Many Faces_

"Everything alright now?" I heard on the other line of the phone.

I nodded my head, but then I remembered that Gary wasn't in front of me. "Yeah… everything's fine. Is he…?"

"I got rid of his body." Gary said to me quickly. "But it's not over though yet. People are going to find out about it and you could be in some really deep shit." I could really be in some deep shit. That was what he just told me? I had put a hand through my hair and raised my eyes up to see Quinn with a deck of cards in her hands. She quickly looked down at them and made it seem like it was the only thing in the world, though she was clearly watching me before. I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly.

"He's a pot dealer." I told him slowly. "No one's going to get… to get crazy over a pot dealer. If it was—"

"He wasn't… just that, Alex." Gary said, his tone sounding grim. I felt the corner of my mouth actually twitch at that and was tempted throw the phone away from me. But I kept it against my ear and listened to Gary's next question. "Did… did anyone else know that you were there last night?"

I shook my head no, "Just you and Quinn. What should I do now?"

"I don't know." Gary said, his voice so soft that I could barely even hear it. "Lay low for a bit, get rid of anything that says that you were there, and wait for this to pass by? There's nothing to really do about it, except that."

"Okay… okay." I replied. "Thank you, Gary."

"No problem, anything for you, Alex." He said after a moment. I smiled to myself and opened my eyes. I watched as Quinn had cut the deck in half and slapped the cards together as she shuffled them. I gestured for her to begin dealing. "Did you know the guy that—?"

I answered immediately. "No."

"He was just some random guy?"

"Just some… just some random guy. I didn't even get a chance to thank him." It was easy to lie about Loki, I found. It was always easy for me to lie though, but with him, it was easier. I couldn't explain it, even if I tried. I had invited Quinn over when Loki stepped out for the day. He didn't tell me where he had gone, nor did I really care. As long as he had looked somewhat not recognizable, I was fine with him stepping out. I needed someone other than him around me, and the first person I called was Quinn.

We had been friends since the early years of my life. She was the friend that my mother didn't want me to be friends with, which made me want to be friends with her all the more. Apparently, Quinn was a bad influence… and I guess that could be true in some sense. But… my mother thought everyone was a bad influence for me.

I didn't speak to Quinn about Loki. I didn't even tell her that a man was living in my apartment with me. At this point, I was kind of hoping that she would be gone by the time Loki had come back.

Quinn raised her eyebrows at that. I only did explain partly what had happened the night before. I pointed at her to deal again because she didn't get the hint, I guess, before and she started to deal me seven cards. "Wow… what a hero then." I could have scoffed. Loki basically admitted to me the night before that he had done that for his own selfish reasons, nothing else. "Maybe he'll show up one day and give you a free meal."

"Maybe." He would show up sooner than expected, that was for sure. "Thank you… again, Gary." I picked up my seven cards and shielded them away from Quinn as I carefully examined them. I balanced the phone between my ear and my shoulder. I ordered my pairs before placing them down on the table. "I'm… I'm sorry I brought you into this, I just didn't know what to do."

"It's all right. I'll call you later to see how you're doing. Remember what I said."

"Will do, bye, Gary." I hung up the phone and placed it gently on top of the table. "I am going first, right?" I asked her seriously, laying down a pair of Kings and a pair of sevens. Quinn looked like she was debating the answer before she nodded her head to me, "Any nines?"

"No, go fish." I dipped into the middle pile and noticed how she didn't have any pairs. I bit the inside of my mouth and looked at my cards. That was pointless. She didn't ask me for anything right away. I didn't look up from my cards, but I felt my chest grow tight just from her eyes being on me. I was tempted to ask her if something was wrong, but then I noticed she turned down her cards on the table and leaned slightly over. Her red-painted lips were pursed in almost a serious frown.

Quinn was never serious. "Are you okay?" She asked me, her tone carrying something I never heard from her before. Concern, maybe?

"I'm fine." I told her quickly. I didn't know if my discomfort could be seen on my face. But… I sure as hell felt it there. Her being concerned over me was uncomfortable. What kind of strange thing was that to say? She was my friend… my best friend and yet she couldn't be concerned over me? Or that I didn't want her to be? There was something wrong with that.

"You're fine?" She asked me in disbelief. I heard the disdain in her voice and it made me grimace. I swallowed thickly before lowering my eyes behind my cards. "You watched someone… you saw someone… someone died inches away from you and y-you're acting so calm."

"That's ridiculous. I'm not acting—."

"You carried on that conversation like it was business." Quinn stated with her eyebrows pulling together. "And why the hell would you call Gary and not the police? He pulled out a gun on you and some random man came up be—."

I had to cut her off. "Quinn, stop." Quinn was reluctant in shutting her mouth, but she did so anyway. Her nostrils slightly flared and she leaned back only a little. "I panicked back there. I didn't know what to do." She still didn't speak; it was as if she was analyzing what I was trying to explain to her. "I had to think on my feet and the police weren't on my mind. And you know me, Quinn, even in my worst situations—."

"Nothing compares to last night, Alex. Don't even start with that." She said to me quickly. I opened my mouth to talk to her, but she was right. I had never… watched someone die in my life, not in front of my eyes. I couldn't even come back with a retort to further my argument. "You're not fine. Manny… you've known for a while now… and for him to just pull a gun out on you, almost kill you, and then die in front of you is a lot for someone to take in."

"Quinn…" I started, but was barely able to finish. She stared at me as I trailed off. It was strange… how I was acting, but my life was saved and I was alive. That was what kept me going through my day. I was alive and that was all that mattered. I eventually said, trying to gulp down the lump I suddenly felt in my throat, "You have no idea what I had gone through last night." My voice nearly came out hoarse, but I tried to keep it even. "I am happy that I got out with nothing blown out of me and if you think that's strange, then leave."

"I'm happy that you got out alive, Alex, but what I don't understand is how you are calm and collected right now."

"It makes sense to me."

"Then explain! You just watched someone die and you're sitting here, talking like he was a casualty or something from a deal, and you are playing a fucking card game with me like it was normal!"

"I never referred to him… like a casualty." I attempted to say; somewhat shocked that she actually had the nerve to yell at me… in my own apartment like that. "What exactly are you implying here? That I should actually have remorse for a man that pulled out a gun in my direction?"

"No, I'm not implying that at all." It sure as hell sounded like that to me. We fell into silence and my eyes found a dried ring from a cup that was left there at one point. I stared at that one spot for who knows how long, but it was by far a better sight than the one across from me. I didn't even want to look back at her. "You… aren't at all conflicted though about this? And don't give me that fine crap, because I know you're not."

"Why ask me the question if you don't want to hear my answer?" I retorted to her. "What would you really like me to say about Manny? That he was a stand-up guy, I don't know why he would pull out a gun on me and try to blast me when we were friends? That I actually feel sorry that he died when he was trying to kill me? I would be lying and if that makes me sound like a horrible person, then send me to hell because I'm not _sorry_ that he died before I could hear a bullet going through me. He wasn't a stand up guy and he pulled a gun on me because I was so goddamn stupid in the first place in taking his money. So, tell me, Quinn, what would you really want me to say?"

Our eyes were locked. Her blue eyes were narrowed before but they somewhat had softened themselves. I faced my cards downward on the table. I was waiting for an answer, only to find that she didn't have one. But she didn't let me know of it. Eventually, I asked her, "Are we done here?"

She didn't answer the question. She glanced over to my bathroom instead before she stood up. "I… have to go—."

"You're not five years old, Quinn. You could use the bathroom without having to announce it." I told her, trying not to let my voice waver. Quinn stood there for a moment, not daring to move away from the table until I had gotten up to go toward my refrigerator. Quinn left the room to go to the bathroom and for a split second, when I heard the door shut, I thought she wasn't going to come back. But then I remembered that the fire escape was outside of my bedroom, not the bathroom.

Maybe it was a mistake calling her… I don't know, maybe I was stupid, but… I opened the door to my fridge, looking inside of it before deciding on taking out a beer for my troubles. I clutched it in my hand. "I shouldn't have to explain myself," I muttered, slamming the door shut before walking over to the drawer to get my bottle opener.

_Click!_

I watched the cold stream out of the bottle of beer and ring itself around the mouth. Despite the conversation before, I smiled, smelling the stench of my Heineken as it reached my nose. It actually provided me with some comfort. Quietly, I brought the mouth of the bottle to my lips, but paused.

The smile on my face fell off and slowly I brought the bottle onto my counter.

Do you know that feeling, when you're all alone, that you're not… truly alone?

My eyebrows creased as I tilted my head back slightly.

I felt eyes, _powerful_ eyes, burning holes into my very back. The eyes on me didn't feel like they were far off, they felt as though they were just behind the island in the middle of my kitchen. My eyes dropped down to my bottle of beer before I bit the inside of my mouth. I moved my head slightly to the side and glanced over my shoulder. I didn't know what I was expecting to see.

My eyes only needed to catch a glimpse of red hair before I turned around quickly. My hands gripped the counter as I was faced with a tall woman, with braided red hair, that almost seemed blonde under my light. Her eyes swirled with a violet color, but were also blue and her features were sharp. Her high cheekbones were lightly brushed with a faint pink and her small mouth was pursed in almost a pout. She reminded me of a cat, with how her eyes were shaped.

Her gaze on me was intense and I felt my body become stiff as I looked at her. My hands tightened around the edge of the counter's surface. The tall woman spoke to me, "Oh, Alexandra, do not act so surprised to see me."

My name, she said my name.

I felt myself gulp at her words. I didn't have any to give her. I looked her up and down, allowing myself at least some thought about this woman, but every thought once processed became blank. Who… how… the questions went dry as they were about to pass my lips. The woman hummed as if she was satisfied that I was stunned into silence by her sudden presence. A graceful hand was laid on my island and she smoothed it over.

"You are the Midgardian whore that has been keeping Loki, the dark prince of Asgard, company?" She asked me, her eyes glinted with amusement. Whore? She called me a… whor—forget it, there were far better questions that were worth asking. I didn't ask any of them but I did find the strength to actually nod my head. "For the love of nine, Alexandra, you beg the question of what he sees in you. You can barely even talk to me and I was so eagerly awaiting our meeting. But we have already met, have we?"

"I…" I fell short immediately. I had the sudden feeling to actually run out of here. I think I would have recalled someone like her. I shook my head no slowly. Where the hell was Quinn now? I fucking needed her now, not before, and she wasn't here. The woman looked at me carefully before a smile carefully edged its way on her features. It wasn't a pleasant smile.

"Well… I do believe that we have seen one another before. You must have forgotten me, I do have," she rubbed her face from top to bottom. My eyes couldn't have widened further and my mouth couldn't have dropped further than it just done. I watched her face change. She went on to say, "that sort of face one forgets."

"You…"

"Oh, now we are getting more used to words. Maybe you can finally compose a sentence."

"That night," I started to her, recognizing her before she went back to her form from before. I shook my head in disbelief but I knew exactly whom I was dealing with now. "That night, I-I saw you. You were… I saw you a couple of times. You stood with us in the alley; you were the woman by the fire. You were… there that night… you… oh, don't—."

"No, I had no idea of the Asgardian prince that has fallen to Midgard. Therefore, I am not exactly his ally." She said to me quickly. Her face then changed to what it was originally, the woman of the alley disappeared. "I do not think that he had saw me that night. I take on many forms, this one being my most used in Asgard." I only took the time now to notice her elegant clothing. She wore a thin gown that loosely hung off of her. It was pale pink and her sleeves were open at the top, but closed around her wrists. She looked like something that came out of a mythology book.

"Why…" when my voice came out, it was nearly a croak. I cleared my throat before continuing, "Why exactly are you here, Asgardian?" I was tired of meeting Asgardians and I only met two of them. I assumed she was from Asgard, she mentioned it. So if I were to be called a Midgardian, I should be able to call her an Asgardian.

"The fact that you really refer to me as such is interesting. You are to address me as Lorelei, for that is my name." Lorelei… I looked her up and down with a slight grimace, but my grip on the counter loosened somewhat. "But, you, mortal, I've been watching you. Your future… interests me, somewhat."

My mind was becoming less and less fuzzy and the woman's words became clearer. Well, Lorelei's words. "My future? I don't know what you mean."

"Judging by the amount of literature you collected on _my_ culture, I think you have heard of the Norns, correct?" I shook my head no slowly. "Oh, no? That is a shame. I figured that you might."

"Stop playing games and explain yourself. What exactly are you talking about?"

"Well, as fate would have it, my little trollop," I tried not to focus on the fact that I was called a trollop or a whore in the same conversation. "I'm afraid, that you will be deceived in a near time by the God of Mischief that you are…" her face scrunched up as she regarded my home, "harboring in here." She looked back at me, the disgust she felt was written in her eyes.

"And… and the Norns have told you that? What are they? Little people who have a hand in my fate? Or… rather everyone's fate."

"I take back what I have said before, it seems you do have a clever little mind in that small head you have." Lorelei mused at me before crossing her arms over her chest. Only then did I realize that she had a small scepter (it sure as hell wasn't a wand from Harry Potter) in her hands.

"I-I-I do have a friend… in the bathroom," I stammered, my eyes finding themselves stuck on the scepter in her hand. I had been introduced to magic before but I didn't think Lorelei was limited on it. I dared myself a glance up at her face to see that she was not fazed by this fact. Great. My eyes were once again stuck on her scepter. "She's… she's going to hear this and come out and… and yeah… if I—."

"I know about the naïve mortal hidden in your washroom and you can be assured that our words exchanged will not be heard or interrupted by the one you call… Quinn." Why… just why did that somewhat worry me?

"She is—."

"Alive, but not in motion. I have brought her a special… well, she is not dead so you do not have to worry yourself." It worried me naturally. This goddess did something to my friend. I would have replied, but she did so. "I have come to give you a warning. Loki is not to be trusted while he is on Midgard, and I see he has your trust already."

"I don—."

"You've only known him for more than two weeks and you declared yourself to be loyal to him." She said to me quickly, as if she was making her point. My eyes narrowed at her. I did claim loyalty to him, but that didn't mean that I trusted him. "I find it interesting though that you do so with knowing that _he_ is the one behind the attacks of your Midgardian city… New Amsterdam."

"It was New Amsterdam four hundred years ago," I told her. "It is actually called New York City in this day and age, old-timer."

"I have lost track of Midgard a while back." Lorelei admitted to me with a dismissive hand before she chuckled lightly, "And you call me an old-timer? Have you checked the age of the God you are allowing to share your bunk with you? I am far more younger."

"I bet you are." Sarcasm dripped out of my voice as I visibly calmed down. Hopefully it was visible, anyway. "And it kind of is hard to deny someone a place to dwell in when they have a threat looming over your head."

"Oh, but there is so much more to that isn't it? You had fallen for that trap of his last night, to get you to trust him, didn't you?" I didn't answer her. I continued to stare at her as a confused frown settled on my face. "You… you actually thought… that man got so mad easily without the aid of magic?"

"I… am I not supposed to?"

"You just thought it to be an odd coincidence that Loki had been there to save you at the correct time when you were to be killed?"

"I knew what Loki had done was for his own purposes," I told her loudly, recovering slightly. I was to believe her when I had just met her? I had no idea about who she actually was. I didn't think what happened was staged… no, it couldn't be. Loki had told me his magic was limited… that didn't matter now; I didn't care about it then. "He didn't do it because he cared for me, I know that. And for your information, _trust_ is something that is hard to come by in Midgard unless you're a fool. I, for one, am not, so either you get out of my apartment and reverse whatever you did to Quinn, or… or…—."

"I plead with you, Midgardian, give me whatever threat that you may have to throw at me because I am willing to give you one to fear." She told me with a smirk. I stopped talking and watched her carefully. "You do not need to get your undergarments twisted, Alex. I am here on the kindest terms that I usually won't grace many with. I am giving you the warning that you will be a victim soon enough and that is all."

"Well, Lorelei," I had the sheer temptation to call her Asgardian, but that didn't want to escape from me, "deception is something that goes along with trust, and you, nor _him_ don't have that. Thank you though for your warning. I'll try and wait for that moment." With that, I turned away from her, picked up my bottle of beer. I felt her intense gaze me still and I started, "When…?" I turned around to see that she was gone.

I stared at where she was. I felt my eyes widen and my mouth twitched uncomfortably. I tried to pick up the bottle of beer to bring it to my mouth, but as I held it by its neck, it shook too much for me to actually drink out of. That was when the door to the apartment opened and then the glass bottle fell out of my hand to break against the floor. I didn't rush to pick it up or even look down at it, my eyes found Loki who was looking at me questionably from where he was.

"You look ill."

"I am." I told him slowly. "I met your friend." Friend must had been a foreign word to him, but he didn't even have time to respond to me because Quinn had come to his, and maybe mine, and maybe even the goddess that just disappeared, rescue. The toilet had flushed finally, bringing me to wonder momentarily what did Lorelei do to her exactly. Loki's head snapped in that direction and a moment later Quinn had appeared.

I glanced over, initially groaning inside. Quinn was stopped at the doorway, her eyes looking at Loki at the door. I saw the familiar look of confusion come onto her face and her eyebrows perked as she looked between us. Her eyes after several glances landed on me. "Who is he?"

"Your cue to leave." I could even hear the irritation in my voice and soon enough, I saw Loki actually advance toward her.

Quinn looked over to him quickly as he approached. I had no idea what he was doing, but after what just happened I didn't even want to think clearly. "I'm Leon Lucaine." He introduced himself. I practically gawked at the name as I watched him gently take her hand within his. Quinn actually blushed as Loki had laid a small kiss on top of knuckles, "And you are by far a beautiful creature."

Loki Laufeyson: professional bull-shitter.

He glanced over my way before having his eyebrows perked. Quinn giggled like a foolish little girl. I didn't… I didn't think that was really charming at all. "Does she have a name?"

"Qui—."

"Quinn… Rae Fitzpatrick." She answered, cutting me off. I parted my mouth slightly and watched this sight in horror. I'm sorry; did she just use her full name? Loki smirked at her amused before dropping her hand. I barely even knew that her middle name was Rae. "I… I didn't know that you're a friend of Alex's."

"She hasn't spoken of me? That is surprising. She speaks an endless amount of good things about you." Loki said to her, his smirk somewhat faltering. My jaw somewhat clenched and I looked over to my bedroom. "Sweetheart," sweetheart? I looked over at him reluctantly, assuming that he was talking to me. He was, he was looking directly at me. "You have not spoken about me to her? I do live here, too, you know."

"I didn't expect you home so soon, honey." Quinn looked between us as both Loki and I tried to keep the façade that he started. Quinn's eyes paused on me for a long moment. She wanted answers. I didn't even have to look her in the eye to see that. I didn't even talk like this. "Besides, Quinn was just leaving, weren't you, Quinn?"

"I—."

"Quinn could stay." Loki quickly stated, cutting her off. He glanced at her and I noticed how his eyes sized her. My stomach lurched at that. "It is of my fault that she is to leave. I have a book to be reading out of anyway." He pulled out a book from underneath his jacket and I narrowed my eyes at him confused. Was that one of the books I took out from him or had he just gone to retrieve it?

I decided to ask him curiously, "And what book is that?"

I didn't get my answer. Instead he looked back at Quinn and bowed his head toward her. "It was a pleasure to meet you. Please, make yourself at home, I will be in the bedroom." I gritted my teeth and looked away from him before walking around the broken glass to get something to clean it all up with. I felt Quinn's eyes on me as I made my way to the closet to get a broom. I didn't realize that Loki hadn't left yet until I felt hands grab my hip.

I froze before turning around to face him; his green eyes seemed to be glimmering. I had to swallow because of how close he suddenly was to me. I breathed in slowly as he said to me slowly, "I don't think I have gotten my kiss 'hello', have I?" Bastard. I gritted my teeth and before I knew it, I felt Loki's lips on me. I tried to not look so shocked over it, but I closed my eyes and kissed him back with stiff lips that he surprisingly loosened easily enough for them to part.

His lips were so soft and it… actually felt nice to kiss him. It satisfied my curiosity about how they felt and when he pulled away, I actually leaned forward.

"Who did you see?" He whispered to me before he moved away from me. I opened my eyes reluctantly and blinked several times to bring myself back to reality.

I didn't think when I answered though. I didn't contemplate what would happen if Lorelei found out I told him. I assumed she didn't want him to know that she was here. But I swallowed thickly before whispering back to him, "Lorelei."

"I, uh," Quinn started quickly from behind. That was funny, I thought she left… or was about to leave. "I have to go anyway…" Loki didn't make to move away from me, I kept my eyes on his face to see what type of reaction was there to the name. Recognition had crossed his eyes before something along the lines of agitation. At least they knew each other. I ignored Quinn as she collected her things and heard her sneakers squeak against my wood floor. I didn't let my gaze on him waver. "I… I will call later."

"Don't bother." I told her, sounding annoyed. I didn't even give a glance over my shoulder to see her reaction. Her words before had stung me and I wasn't going to let that go easily. A moment later, I heard the door to my apartment shut and Loki finally took a step away from me. I watched him as he slowly peeled off the facial hair I had given him off of his face before throwing it on the floor. "I didn't know that you could be charming?"

"What did she say?" He ignored me, going right to it, of course. His hands were on his hips and I saw his eyes look out of the open window. I didn't answer him right away, trying to relive the moment in my kitchen. I looked back at the closet before picking up my broom and a thing of paper towels to clean up my mess. "Alexandra," he started to me again, and I slowly looked up. "What did she _say_?"

"She came here with the 'kindest of terms' for your information." I told him bitingly, unconsciously licking my bottom lip. I spared a glance over at Loki before going to where my broken bottle was. The stench of the wasted beer saddened me. I needed a drink, or something. Loki didn't seem too happy with my answer, so I changed it. "She wanted to warn me about you… and something about my future. That's all." She also scared the hell out of me, was I forgetting to actually mention that?

"Why does she have such an interest in your future?" He asked me. She didn't really expand on that with me other than the fact that I might be the victim of Loki's deception. I lied to him, shrugging my shoulders. She could have been making that up or she could have been saying that with another meaning. I honestly didn't want to know my future. "Alex… what has she told you?"

"Why exactly are you so interested in knowing? She didn't spill anything that will compromise my loyalty to you." I told him, observing how tense he had gotten. I watched him carefully before realizing that he had called me 'Alex' rather than Alexandra. Alex coming from him sounded like my full name with a scowl. Was that his way of scolding me? Using the shortened version of my name? It was strange, but I felt the scolding. "Should she have? Does she know things that I should know—?"

"We have come to the agreement that you only know of my banishment and what is required of you, nothing more."

"But—."

"Do _not_ protest it," he growled at me from where he was. "She is not of importance."

"I am sure she isn't," I told him, my grip on my broom tightened. "But she just threatened me… I've been threatened too many times this week, Loki, and—."

"She gives bottomless threats. They are never followed through. She is not as powerful a sorceress as she perceives herself to be."

"I'm sorry, but what _exactly_ does that mean?" I asked him. Lorelei was a sorceress, but… not powerful? They were all powerful in my eyes and her threats did seem like they would be carried through. She didn't even have to say one. Loki seemed almost exasperated by this. I could see it in his eyes that he was irritated.

Loki answered me, the frustration was clear in his tone, "Exactly as it sounds, Alexandra. She is a trained liar and a seductress, her threats go so far as putting a love potion in someone else's wine."

"She didn't… try to seduce me." I said to him slowly, going over that in my head. She didn't try to at all. Loki had let out a sigh. That wasn't the point he was trying to get across, was it? I decided to change the subject quickly. "But… she said she has been watching me for a while, I recognized her when she changed… her, uh, face." Loki's eyebrow actually perked up at the sound of this. "She… never knew how to morph into something else… I'm guessing?"

"That isn't hard to learn if you are accustomed to sorcery, but she must have learned how to do that recently." Loki reasoned with that, dismissing it like it was nothing. Maybe I should have dismissed it just so easily like he had. "But what interest does she have in _you_?"

"She… she had been watching me long before you came along, trust me." The goddess was there in the alley for at least three times this month, maybe a little more than that. "Why does she take a interest in me? I don't know." There was more to it than the reason she gave. "But I have the feeling that this isn't the last I will see of her."

"No, it will not." Loki said, sounding somewhat uncertain of something. I tilted my head before I go over to the mess I had made before. I glanced over at Loki to see him going toward the island. "And to answer your question from before, I am quite the charmer, if you haven't noticed."

He propped himself on top of one of the stools as I bent down to clean up. I felt Loki's eyes on me for a brief moment. "Your friend seemed quite taken with me."

"Quinn… yeah, I, uh, guess." I said absently, wiping up the beer on the floor. I heard the book open up on the island and was tempted to ask what it was, but didn't. "But it's not hard for her to be flattered." I stated. Why… did I just say that? I tried not to question myself out loud because I even sensed something not right with my own voice.

Loki was silent for several minutes and a part of me thought that he had casually dismissed what I stated. Then he spoke, and I immediately regretted it and wanted to take it back, "I have seen the look you have given before."

"I don't know what you mean." I said to him quickly, bunching up paper towels before wiping it up still. It soon was the perfect excuse to not even look up at him

"The color green does not suit you, _sweetheart_." His tone was rather marking and I paused in what I was doing. My jaw clenched slightly. "You were envious of my affections toward her and they were all faked. It makes me wonder what would happen if they were actually real."

I still didn't look up at him. I turned my head though at the cabinet in front of me. "Nothing would have happened."

"You are an awful liar."

"People will argue with that because I make my living off of lying." I told him quickly, twisting around to look up at him, but… I breathed in sharply when I felt two hands on my hips. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes. No… I told myself to not pay any mind and keep doing what I was doing, but… my mind trailed off when I turned to face him slowly. My stomach did a flip as I felt his nose brush against mine. My breathing became uneven as his strong hands made me face him.

Loki's thumbs moved on my hipbones in small circles. His skin against mine, though it was barely any, felt… wrongfully good. "You are lying… to the God whose living is based off of them. You cannot fool me. You desire this, don't you?" _Yes…_ no, I didn't, I didn't desire it. My eyes dropped down to his lips that were perfectly shaped, small, and I remembered how they felt on top of mine. I raised my eyes to see something that had crossed his eyes. Was it lust? Because that was starting to build up within me, _lust_.

Despite what I felt, I shook my head no reluctantly.

I heard his tongue click at this. "Do not lie to me, Alexandra. I do not like _liars_."

"Y-You are one yourself," I tried to chuckle, but it failed. It fell dry in the air and his green eyes flashed. I tried to remain calm, but I couldn't even suppress the tremble I felt when I felt his hand slip underneath my shirt. His skin was surprisingly warm as it went over mine and I felt his breath on my neck. His thumb slid underneath my bra strap before I tilted my head back, closed my eyes, before I felt his lips on top of my jawline.

When I felt the tip of his tongue touch me, I allowed a moan to escape from me before I felt a slight nibble on the same spot. I… I was not going to give in to him. No, there was no way I was. "There… there is glass on the floor." I said to him lamely, as if it was to get away from me.

"Then…" his mouth moved along my jaw. "Then perhaps we should move." He murmured against me, but neither of us moved. We stayed where we were until my hand dropped the beer soaked paper towel and went to his long neck. "Like… off the floor." His lips only touched my bottom lip, sucking on it. It was a proper tease. I didn't want just that.

"I-I think that you should let me clean—." I was cut off as I felt his mouth claim mine. I felt my lips stiffen at first before I decided to allow this and actually reciprocate. My mouth moved in rhythm with his. I felt his hand underneath my shirt move underneath one of the cups of my bra, smoothing his thumb over my nipple, rubbing until it felt hard under his touch. I breathed in slowly as I felt his tongue slip into my mouth.

My breath was being captured. I felt his tongue on top of mine as it skillfully explored inside of me. My body felt as though it was being pushed further back and my hand found itself tangled somewhere in his long dark hair. The kiss had grown more and more aggressive as it continued on. It had turned into a fight for control, a fight that was likely for me to lose. The hand that was on my breast before moved to hold my neck, my shirt was brought up along with it. My body then was pushed to the ground where the forgotten mess wasn't. His mouth parted from mine and I felt it being pressed against my neck.

_I thought you both wanted to move elsewhere._

My eyes flew open at the sound of the voice. _Oh, Alex, you were not going to get rid of me easily. Did you think I would leave straight away?_

"Loki." I muttered, my eyes looking around at the limited distance I could look at. Loki was oblivious to this, or he just didn't hear her voice. My back arched slightly off the floor and I wasn't paying attention to anything any more other than Lorelei's voice. "Loki, stop." I urged him, untangling my hand from his hair and placed both of them onto his chest—it was a weak attempt to push him away. He pressed further against me. I felt his hands suddenly at the hem of my shirt.

_No, no, Alexandra, don't let me spoil your fun._

My head was spinning; Loki's hands lifted the hem of my shirt and felt like I was going to scream. Maybe it would stop everything from going any further. "Stop!" I nearly yelled, pushing him off of me with all of my might. It was just enough for me to squirm away from him, my hands were aiding me as I crawled backward. My eyes looked around my apartment as I struggled to get on my feet.

_You're never going to find me, Alex_.

Her voice was dripping with mockery. I looked around my apartment, taking the broom in my hand. I had better weapons in this house, but the broom was the closest thing to me. "Are you daft?" Loki had asked from behind me, but I chose to ignore him, walking around the island. My eyes still searched for her.

"Show your face!" I nearly shouted. I must have looked insane carrying around the broom. I held it up, flipping it so the bristles were up, and watched for the slightest movement.

"Show whose face? Whom are you talking to, Alex?" There it was again, the slight slip of the tongue.

_Why don't you turn around?_ Loki was careful when he spoke. I figured that out a while back. I slowly turned around and saw a smirking Loki standing back up. That… that wasn't… I watched, my face twitching as I touched my mouth in disbelief.

I watched as Loki's face changed, my breathing was caught in my throat as my eyes widened. "You are really that naïve to think that I would just disappear so easily, aren't you?"

I wanted to… I had no idea what I wanted to do. I stood where I was, in utter shock, and saw Lorelei who actually was Loki this whole time walking around my island. Her hand was once again skimming my island and she walked forward to me. Her arms swayed as she walked while her sleeves flared. My grip on the broom had loosened as she stepped in front of me. Her eyes went to that, narrowing at it with amusement, "And what are you planning to do with that, exactly? Hit me with it?"

"I—."

The door opened again and I looked over to see that it was Loki, the actual Loki. "Oh, and the man of the hour is here just in time to ruin my fun. You have never been so prompt in meeting me before." I saw Loki swallow visibly and he looked between the two of us before I saw a fake smile creep onto his face. By Lorelei's doing, the door closed behind him and he walked in the apartment.

"Lorelei, this is quite the surprise." He said to her slowly and calmly. He was acting so calm and yet my heart was beating rapidly against my chest. I think it was due to embarrassment, now that I am replaying it in my head. I thought Lorelei was… the thought of it still makes me want to go to the nearest bathroom. "Am I to be expecting your sister to come anytime soon? A family reunion in here really isn't what I want."

Sister? She had a sister? The fact that she had a sister twisted my insides. "We will save the reunion for next time we meet, my sister and I are currently hungering for a taste of each others blood. You and I have business to discuss."

"I do have business to discuss, but you are not the one to discuss it with."

"Is that so?" Lorelei had a strange smile twisting on her face. She glanced over at me, "And your little Midgardian pet is the one to discuss it with?"

"I am not his—." I quickly interjected, only to be cut off. I felt a pair of lips on top of my cheek and my eyes widened. This time was far more different than the last two times. Not only was it actually Lorelei kissing me on my cheek, I felt my body immediately harden. My body temperature had gone cold and before I could even take in a breath, I was frozen—not only frozen, but my whole entire body had turned into stone.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't even feel my heart beat against my chest, but somehow, I was alive. My eyes could see, and my ears could hear. I looked over to Lorelei with much effort. "Turn her back _now_, Lorelei, she is not—." I didn't look at Loki as I was like this. My eyes were only on Lorelei, who only held a hand up to silence him. She seemed to be only modest about her own abilities, because just by her hand being raised, Loki spoke with no words coming out.

She shook her head at him before turning to me. Lorelei laid a finger on top of my stone lips. "You have shown to me that your relationship with Loki is more than platonic now… do not push it. Let the adults talk while you remain silent and if you are good, maybe I will turn you back." She tapped my cheek with her finger and so badly, I wanted to scream. She then turned back to Loki, raising her hand up to allow his silence to disappear.

"Turn her back." Loki stated to her immediately. "The mortal does not have anything to do with this."

"Oh, but she does, Loki. She isn't dead, but if you continue to talk to me like…" she chuckled lightly, "you actually could kill me, then I will turn her into stone completely—and the effects of that are actually difficult to reverse. Her heart will slow down, soon the air will not make it to her lungs, and your Midgardian whore will die a statue unfit for any pedestal. Your choice." Silence was her answer and she was only left to assume that his choice was made by that silence. "I understand that you are in search of something to regain your powers."

"And what has made you come to that understanding?"

"I've been watching Alex for several weeks before you had met her, Loki. Your mortal has a curious life ahead of her and I thought that I would make myself an acquaintance, but I have seen that you beat me to it. But, tell me, what has drawn you to her that night? She looked positively awful and though she possesses a mouth of skill in talk and _other_ acts," she gave me a meaningful glance and I groaned inwardly. I wanted to forget that moment. I felt Loki's eyes on me before he had moved to the kitchen, "she is not really that clever and… oh, Loki, please be careful going in the kitchen, your whore dropped a glass bottle upon seeing you before."

Loki stopped in his place and glanced down at the floor before turning to face Lorelei who grinned crookedly at him. "I have not… _oh_," he sounded mildly impressed with Lorelei as he stepped away from the kitchen. I allowed myself to glance his way, but his green eyes glimmered with sheer mischief when they looked back at me. He didn't need to be explained what just happened. How Lorelei talked of me gave him the pieces to fit the puzzle. I looked away from him and found myself wanting to scream even more. My insides didn't allow it, and my mouth of stone didn't allow my scream.

"I do not ever recall you being able to shapeshift into someone else. You have grown in your sorcery, it seems."

"Well, I had a better teacher since you have abandoned being my teacher centuries ago."

"And who is this teacher, Lorelei?" He asked her curiously, walking toward her. He came up into my view, but I couldn't bring myself to even look his way for a brief moment.

Lorelei decided to not answer that right away. There were several minutes of silence. "We don't have to go through that right now," she answered finally, "you are trying to deter me away from the present subject. I know you are searching for the Brísingamen, which we both know had belonged to my sister at a time."

"I do—."

"It was long ago when my sister was called Freyja. Do not act like you don't remember her then." Lorelei interrupted him before she walked over to the coffee table in my living room. She picked up the book that Loki—shit, I mean _she_—brought with her. Her hand smoothed over the cover before she walked forward. "This is the journal that she kept. Your Midgardian was thorough in what she picked out to help, but it will not do you any good. They know little of the Brísingamen."

"What is this?" Loki asked her, his eyes dropping to the book in her hand. "What are you trying to do?"

"I am here to help." Lorelei told him honestly, holding the book out to him. "My sister's sorcery is limited now and she is looking for her necklace also. I rather not have it fall into her hands." Loki looked between her and the book before he slowly had taken it out of her hands. "And she calls herself the_ Enchantress_, can you believe it? My sister is useless without her magical trinkets."

"You are still angry at her from when she used your own spell against you, aren't you?" Loki grinned at her crookedly and for once, I had noticed Lorelei's face falter at the sound of that. Must have been a rough subject for her. "You have to get over things like that, it does not do yourself good."

"You are the last to talk about sibling rivalries, aren't you?" Loki sneered, but didn't retort anything back at her. "And you don't want Amora to have this necklace in her hands again, I know that for a fact."

"I have taken it from her before, I could take it again."

"You cannot take it again when you need it to regain your powers."

"We were allies before, Loki." Lorelei said to him softly as Loki's hand skimmed over the cover. "I think it would be wise if we relive old times."

"This… will help me retrieve the Brísingamen?"

"There is bound to be more word on where it is there." Lorelei stated to him with a nod. "Now, that I've had my fun," she looked over at me, stepping directly in my line of sight so she could get my attention. I didn't want anything to do with her right now. "I shall release your Midgardian pet, she has been awfully good."

"I have not even agreed—."

"Oh, but you have." Lorelei said to him before walking up to me. I closed my eyes tightly, not wanting to see what she was about to do. I heard her hand slap on my stoned shoulder and slowly, I felt the stone that restricted me begin to fade. My fingers were gradually able to flex and I could feel my body begin to come back. My mouth parted, drawing in a large breath, as I staggered backward. The broom fell from my hand and clattered onto the wood floor. I gripped the nearest lamp to me to gather my balance.

I looked down at myself in disbelief, my eyes widening. I looked up slowly to see Lorelei smirking, "You are lucky that you are in league with him, Midgardian. If you were not, you wouldn't have a pleasant death to fall into." And with that, Lorelei was gone. She didn't say goodbye, she didn't further explain herself, but she disappeared into thin air.

I stared at the spot in disbelief. "She…" I trailed off. My hand went to my hair and my fingers combed through it. I needed… I needed my beer. I needed my bottle now. I looked slowly up at Loki, who didn't seem fazed by Lorelei's disappearance. His eyes were on the book in his hand. My head was spinning with so many thoughts, but I didn't know how to get rid of any of them.

"What the fuck did I get myself into?" I asked myself. This had just gotten worse. Real worse. Loki was not paying any mind to me; his eyes were on the book still. I moved to approach him. "This woman… shows up in my apartment, hell-bent, threatens me, leaves, comes back and deceives me, and then turns me into stone."

"Your point, Alexandra?" Loki sounded almost bored as he raised his eyes to mine. I know it wasn't him before, but I actually liked the position I was in… with the imposter. It made me wonder how it would actually feel like. He had no idea also how good it felt to be called Alexandra by him again, I had gotten used to it.

"We have not one, but two Asgardian women, trying to kill each other, over this necklace." I said to him slowly, trying to wrap my head around it myself. We had the actual goddess herself after it and the sister who wanted it away from… Amora, she said her name was, and we were in the middle of it all.

He waved at what I said rather dismissively. "Lorelei is harmless. She may have developed quite more with her sorcery, but that does not mean that she is ruthless. She doesn't have the nerve to carry through with murder unless it is well deserved."

"She turned me into stone."

"Yes, but did she murder you?" He inquired to me quickly. "Amora is not one to trifle with. But after what Lorelei has said about her powers being weak, she may not be a problem to us. She needs this though… just as much as I do, she may go through other means in getting it."

"How is she going to take to us reading her journal?" I couldn't help but smirk at the prospect. My eyes dropped down to it as I moved next to Loki, my arm brushing against his. "If she was once considered the goddess of sex and lust, there must be some interesting stories inside of there."

Loki chuckled lightly, "Personally, I am wondering if I am mentioned in here."

"Why? Are you an old flame or something?" I laughed as I asked, not exactly thinking it through. Loki didn't laugh at that, so my laughter had faded awkwardly in my living room. I soon cleared my throat before daring to ask, "Is… uh, Lorelei there an old flame, too?"

"And… why exactly do you care, Alexandra?" Once again, I never appreciated my full name until he used it at this moment. He asked me a question that I would like an answer to myself.

I lied. A stupid lie that I knew he wouldn't believe, "I don't."

"Green does not suit you." Loki stated to me. I chewed on the inside of my mouth before I narrowed my eyes at him. I felt the heat rise up to my cheeks but I didn't say anything. I shifted my gaze down at the book. "And I left before to collect more information on the Brísingamen." He said, swiftly changing the subject of which I was happy about. I raised my brow at that questionably. "You are to take me tomorrow to an expert who has written extensively on it."

I parted my mouth at this, not really realizing my head leaning onto his shoulder as he held out the book. "And how… did you find this _expert_?"

"Simple, I went to that library you have taken me." Loki explained to me curtly. "The woman at the desk had helped me use that infernal thing and gave me instructions to allow me into a… database?" I nodded my head against him, remembering going on those during my college days for research. "He had himself a journal that gives the precise location of the Brísingamen."

"So what Lorelei has given to us is just useless? I could get rid of you without this stupid thing?"

"Yes."

"I take you to this man, and everything's done?" I asked him uncertain. I expected more from this, so much more, that I actually felt relieved that Loki was going to be out of my apartment. That was it; there wouldn't be any more grumbling, no more constant frustration, and no more temptation to… do _that_. Maybe it was better that it was Lorelei rather than he before. I did not want to…

How about we forget about what had happened on that floor? "Oh, do not act like you are so ready for me to leave." He actually teased. Wow… Loki was actually being friendly with me and not scowling at me or making me to be a fool. This was going to be short-lived. I enjoyed the little moment. Might as well. "And perhaps, I may need more of your assistance afterward."

My eyes twitched at that, but I didn't complain. I was going to save that for later. "And where am I to take you?"

"He resides in a place called _Princeton_," Jersey, was he fucking serious? I turned my head to look at him with narrowed eyes. I nearly gawked at him. He went on to say, "he must be of some sort of royalty to you mortals, to reside with the name of prince."

I didn't even know what to say to that. I had to remind myself that he didn't know what Princeton was, nor did he know that in the United States… we didn't have a royal family. I was not… _repeat not_, going to New Jersey again, especially to Princeton, which was a fair forty minute drive from there. I felt my lips actually curl at the thought, but which was more important to me? Getting rid of Loki or making this a far longer process than it needed to be?

I swallowed at this thought and was tempted to just say no to it. "That… that isn't what Princeton is." I moved my head off of his shoulder and looked at him carefully as his brow furrowed at that confused. "It's an Ivy League University." The brow furrowed deeper, if that was possible. "It's where we want to further our academics to get smarter and that is one of the most prominent ones in the country, on the east coast anyway."

"Why do you sound bothered about it?" Loki suddenly asked me. "He _knows_ where this is, so I must see him."

"You'd rather take the easy way out instead of… uh, analyzing why?" Talking him out of it seemed to me the best way to go. But it was a losing battle. I knew what I had to do and if this was going to get Loki out of my hair, then… "Fine. I… I will take you there, but we can't go tomorrow because it's far away and I am going to work a couple of days to gather gas money." A flight would have been smarter but Loki didn't have ID nor was I getting him a fake ID, and also I… I just didn't like flying. I would rather drive. Driving was good. "We'll… we'll leave Tuesday morning. What's this guy's name?"

"Professor William Kant." We were going to see Professor William Kant in Princeton.

_**Like I said, sorry for the length of this chapter. I tried to shorten it at times, but it didn't sound right whenever I did, so yeah. Thank you for reading and a big thanks to those who reviewed and alerted and favorited last chapter! And sorry for that make-out scene not really being with Loki, I actually was really reluctant in doing that but it kind of wrote itself.**_

_**Hope you enjoyed the chapter and until next time! :)**_


	7. No Desire to Tango?

_No Desire to Tango?_

Monday night, I dropped my roller skates on the ground, twitching as I walked on top of my wood floor. I had worked five days at the diner again, coming back for a brief time to earn money off the books. The liberty of earning money off the books was that none of my paycheck went to the government, but that also meant that the owners could lower my pay _below _minimum wage. I worked extra hours though and that managed to pull a nice paycheck together.

My body ached, my ears rang, and my eyes were tired.

I had to tell my boss the reason why I couldn't work there for about another week. He wasn't happy. Here is our conversation from that day.

_Me:_ Mr. White, can I speak with you?

He shuffled with some plates, almost breaking them before making his way over to me. It was near the end of my shift.

_Mr. White:_ Go ahead, Alec.

_Me:_ _Alex_, but… thank you for letting me come back. It was nice of you to give me time to recuperate.

_Mr. White:_ Well, you were a mess when you came back, Alec. _(Insert my scowl here)_ It was the least I could do.

_Me:_ And something that you didn't have to do. But… I have to take off another week.

_Mr. White: _What?

This was when I wanted to run away, forget that I said anything, and crawl somewhere. My scowl had disappeared and I gulped before I tried to figure out what I could say that would sound logical. The actual truth of where I was going was hardly logically.

_Me: _My mother's ill. My sister's home alone and called me yesterday to go and take care of her.

I was quick on my feet. This was what I called the lying game. The most important game one would play to get what they want. I wanted time off, so I was going to use my mother as a ploy for Mr. White. He was always a family man and he had a soft spot. It was working; I saw Mr. White's crinkly face soften at my words.

_Mr. White: _I'm… I'm sorry to hear that. What does she have?

_Me: (another brilliant idea occurs) _Pneumonia. You know how it is in New Jersey. Much like here since it's by the water. My mother never had done well with dampness.

_Mr. White: _Well, Alec, I guess I have no choice but to allow it. Your mother has done well with you and I'm sure your sister would want you there with her during this time."

_Me: _Oh, I'm sure.

And that was how, I had gotten out of work in the kindest way I could put it. My boss was actually harsher than that overview.

I took a deep breath to look around for Loki in my apartment and saw that he was sitting by the bookshelf with a novel in his hand. An actual Midgardian novel, I didn't believe it. When I had come home he would usually have that awful journal in his hands, reading it to himself and actually chuckling at some things. It must be nice being in someone else's journal. "What are you reading?" I asked him curiously, dragging myself across the apartment. It occurred to me as I plopped down on the couch that I still had bags to pack.

I might just procrastinate on that because I still couldn't believe that I was going back to New Jersey.

"Literature that I will not think you would be able to understand." I furrowed my brow at that answer and glanced up at him. "It's the only mortal literature I am able to read without wanting to vomit."

"You… you found that in my bookshelf, didn't you?" I asked him. I wouldn't be able to understand something that was in my bookshelf? I had a lot that a normal person like me wouldn't understand in that, but I did. He nodded his head. "Well, what exactly is _it_?"

"A man named William Shakespeare." I had Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and A Midsummer's Night in that library, including the sonnets. I had lost Romeo & Juliet, it was somewhere in this apartment though. He turned over the play to look at the title and said to me, "Macbeth."

"Ah. You're right… I am just so unintelligent to not understand a word of it." I had read that in school and many times after. I looked forward before propping my feet up on the coffee table. I took the remote off of the seat next to me and quoted nonchalantly, _"It provokes desire, but takes away from the performance."_ That was the funniest innuendo in Shakespearian history that involved alcohol. I glanced up at Loki, whose head slowly picked up this. I smirked, _"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"_

"That is from another work."

"Oh, I know, Sonnet 18." I admitted to him. That one wasn't my favorite, actually it was the only line I knew from a sonnet because everyone used. "I'm not completely uncultured, you know."

"You can recite some words, but that does not mean that you have the intelligence to understand them."

"Quote me something, and I will translate it to a normal language." I smirked at him before putting the television on. I glanced at the digital clock to see it was 8:15, which meant it was the middle of _Dancing with the Stars_. I hadn't exposed Loki to reality TV yet. But the sheer temptation had come over me several times to put on reruns of the _Jersey Shore, _but I didn't want to scare him away from Jersey when we were going there tomorrow.

The familiar theme had come on and I saw the face of the man that I had come to know as the host of _America's Funniest Home Videos_. That was never on any more, or it just felt like it was never on. I heard Loki mutter to himself before I heard the pages of Macbeth flipping, "I accept your challenge." I hummed in response and nodded my head, watching TV.

"_Yet I do fear thy nature; it is too full o' the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way._"

"Lady Macbeth is being badass as usual and is afraid that her husband is too kind to commit murder. That's too easy."

"_Bring forth men-children only; for thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males."_

"What is with you and Lady Macbeth?" I asked him, cocking a brow and nearly cringed as I had seen Carrie Ann give a celebrity a low score of five—I thought the couple did a good dance, even if I couldn't recall the football player's name (the football player usually was someone I never heard of—I was just waiting until Tom Brady or Tim Tebow gathered the courage to dance their asses off on this show).

"I don't believe that is what that means, so you fail at the challenge." I heard the book close shut.

I shook my head, "I know what it means, and I'm just asking why you keep quoting Lady Macbeth because she's a psycho."

"I don't think it really matters why I am quoting her, what matters is if you translate to your terms correctly, which you still hadn't done."

"She is too tough to care for a child of the female gender and she is only suited to take care of males. Do you really want to challenge me any further?" I asked him, briefly looking away from my show. He didn't bother looking my way, but he pushed the book back on my shelf before moving toward the couch. He settled down next to me, glancing down at my hideous skirt with the corner of his mouth twitching upward.

Loki picked up a part of the fabric, rubbing it in between his fingers. I glared over at him, but that didn't make him drop it yet. "Why do you have to wear something so… repugnant?"

"This is my uniform." I said, gesturing it down at it and pulling the fabric out of his hands. "You have to wear one when you have a job."

"You all have to wear a dress," Loki glanced down at the bottom of my skirt, his eyes stuck on the poodle that was near the hem. I hated that poodle. He continued on, "with a… what I think is a mutt at the bottom?"

"It's… a poodle, a fluffy dog."

"Fluffy…" he repeated to himself. Loki looked away from the poodle to look up at me. "You use such childish language and yet understand language that is supposedly too complex for you to comprehend."

"They teach Shakespeare in schools, Loki." I said to him, sounding bored and wishing that this subject were dropped right at the moment. I was a nerd out of school, in school I didn't care to actually apply myself, but I still managed a good enough GPA to get into Fordham—and SAT scores, really good SAT scores. "I am sure you have schools in Asgard for the children there."

"Our children are taught to be warriors." Loki answered me honestly. I heard something in his tone that told me that he wasn't taught to be a warrior. I watched Derek on the show dance with a woman that my mother used to watch on _General Hospital_. "But we are taught our academics as well. It is our decision on what we want to focus more on. My—_Thor_, liked to focus on being a warrior." I tried to ignore that he corrected himself to say 'Thor', but it was hard to not even note.

I swallowed before stating, "You focused more on your studies."

"I thought academics and sorcery was worth knowing a million more times than fighting off enemies with strength."

"You're a lover, not a fighter. I could respect that." I muttered to him, crossing my legs. "In Midgard, we don't really teach our children to be warriors—some people do, I mean, but generally no. And we really don't have any means to sorcery; some people like to pretend they do with this thing called voodoo magic and uh… doing tricks. After primary schooling, we go onto universities and colleges, which are stupidly expensive, to figure out what we want to do with life."

"And you have trained to be a person who wears animals on the skirt of her dress?"

"_No_, I haven't. I am a waitress, I wait on people."

"And you have been trained at one of those universities and colleges to wait on people. I did not think that would require t—."

"I have the type of job that doesn't require college." I told him quickly; not letting him assume that waitressing was a job that I had gotten with a degree. It was one of the few jobs now that you could get without a degree. "College is optional, it's just preferred in society that one goes and I did go. It just didn't work out for me in the end."

"And it has not worked out for you in the end, _why_?"

"What is this, a confessional?" I asked him, sounding almost offended. I didn't mean to sound offended, but hell I felt like it was 20 questions. His eyebrows only perked at that. I sighed before deciding to answer, "It just… wasn't for me. I was going for Criminal Justice, uh, it was expensive to keep up with it, and my mother barely wanted to pay for it so I would be buried in debt. It was an easy way out and I knew I could manage on my own without a degree. But it's usually frowned upon if you don't have one."

"If it is frowned upon to not have one, then why is it not affordable?" Loki asked. That was the golden question and I looked over at him with a smile on my face. I shrugged my shoulders, tempted to just say that 'we live in the land of capitalism,' but Fordham, though it was an amazing school, was extremely (unreasonably, I might add) expensive. I would have been paying more than $60,000 for tuition per year, and that was an estimate. I barely had a scholarship, so it was all loans that I was relying on.

My mother didn't want the burden, or to help me with the burden since I was barely on a scholarship and she was a _bitch_.

He then asked me, "I remember you saying that Princeton is a university. Did you go t—?"

"No, no, no, no, no," I denied immediately. "Princeton is an Ivy League, which is one of the most prestigious schools in the country. A lot of rich kids go there, some go there because they are really smart, and others go there because they got a nice full ride. It's hard to get into Princeton. Fordham, where I went, is in New York, Princeton is in New Jersey."

"You said New Jersey with a sneer." He noted. Had I? I guess I did do that sometimes without realizing it. I turned my attention back on the television only to feel the sneer actually grown when I see a commercial for Valentine's Day come up. "Do you loathe this place called, New Jersey?"

"I don't _loathe_ it, but I don't like it. I grew up there."

"Why?"

"Why so curious about my life?" I suddenly asked him. Now I really was getting the feeling that he was playing 20 questions with me. He furrowed his brow at me as I shifted slightly away from him on my sofa, which wasn't that good because it was a loveseat. His feigned something like innocence on his face. "You are asking a lot of questions."

"You have asked questions."

"Yes, but I only asked one. You are edging along 20 now and all of them have been… very _personal_ questions."

"And you haven't?" Loki challenged. "You ask many questions concerning my past and my intentions—."

"And you yet haven't answered them, you refuse to if it doesn't have anything to do with what I am helping you with. The only thing I know about you, _you_, is that you were here to be punished, and what I've read from books long ago. I respect that, I could ask you a million things right now if I wanted to, but I _don't_. So, I don't understand—."

His hand had cut me off. He grabbed my shoulder tightly within his hand, his fingers digging into my skin. I nearly hissed, but I realized his gaze wasn't threatening as it would be with me—it was more warning. He pointed a long finger at me and I took my eyes off of his to pointedly look down at it. "You watch your tongue."

"And what are you going to do if I don't? You can't do anything to me," I said to him knowingly and almost immediate, bringing my eyes to his. "I am your ticket to Princeton."

"I'll commandeer another mortal."

"Commandeer? You'll commandeer another mortal? Who are you, Jack Sparrow? You can't commandeer a _mortal_, they won't let you if you talk like that."

"I would simply make them, I've made you do as I say easily." Loki replied to me, his grip however loosened. His eyebrows knitted together and maybe because I used a reference to something that he would not know at all. "And I do not mean that in a literal sense."

"I know how you meant that, Loki, there's no need to clarify that for me. But you have told me that you tolerated me as a mortal, so how are you so sure that you'll be able to tolerate other mortals? I have put up with your shit and your confusion among all things; any other person would have thrown you on the curb by now because they lack the patience."

Out of everything in my speech, only one thing had gotten through him. "I have never uttered the words that I tolerated you."

"You _did... _once. He did! He did say so one time, _one time _I recalled it… I really did. And it seemed more that I had to tolerate him. I clenched my jaw, before turning this around, "Or maybe you're right, it is I that has the issue of tolerating _you_. I have been fucking turned into stone!"

"You are still not over that?"

"A fucking Asgardian goddess came into _my _apartment, told me that I had… I had a future ahead of me and has been watching me for some time, left, came back as you, made a fool out of me, turned me into fucking stone all to give you a book that you didn't even need! Of course, I'm not fucking over it! No one would be over—." A firm hand clamped itself over my mouth and I mumbled the rest of my sentence against it. His eyes narrowed at me annoyed and my jaw clenched tighter. I held my breath and waited for him to take his hand off of my mouth.

Loki didn't yet. He said to me, "You talk too much, Alexandra." Then he had let his hand slip from my mouth before turning his head back to the television. "And what is this?" A weak attempt to try and change the subject. Loki's hand might have fell from my mouth but it was still on my shoulder without any plans of moving. I narrowed my eyes at him before glancing down at his hand. "It is…" he trailed off, but when I glanced back up at him, I could see how his nose wrinkled at the show.

"I love how you are brushing off the present topic of argument to pay attention to the TV screen. You're becoming a true mortal man." I said to him sarcastically, shifting myself so that I was situated next to him. He glared over at me and I only offered him a smirk. I decided to push this over to the conversation we would have in the car ride to Jersey… twelve hours. His glare somewhat softened.

Our relationship had changed, I found. I didn't know when it changed for him, or when it changed for me, but it had. His hand was off my shoulder then. "We'll talk about this in our twelve hour car ride tomorrow to Jersey. I won't be pissy like I am now, and you wouldn't have the temptation to kill me when I have the advantage of killing you."

That was it. I unhinged him then. His jaw clenched as he looked over at me, an irritable look crossing his face. "Twelve… hours?"

"Yes, twelve… hours." I repeated to him, leaning into him slightly. Loki stiffened, but only a little. "Is that a problem?"

"Are we going to use that small thing you call a vehicle you drive around?" My car was _not_ small. It was slightly bigger than a punch buggy—and he barely had fit in it. I nodded my head slowly. Loki's mouth parted at this confused and said to me, trying to keep his voice even, "I have not been in Midgard for long, but I recall another means of travel from watching your news that flies in the air and takes _less_ time."

I gritted my teeth at the mere mention of flying. I had a severe fear of heights and the last time I had taken a plane was when I was five. Mind you, I had made Quinn and Jake drive with me to Las Vegas because of this fear. Just stepping in an airport made me shiver. "I… am not a fan of flying," I admitted to him, nearly cringing again at the word. I didn't need to look up to see his expression. Probably amused at my humiliating fear… or something. It was always something simple that scared. Spiders, rodents, heights, and sometimes snakes. However, now snakes didn't bother me and I still hadn't found the reason why. But I shook my head and went on to other reasons, "Plus you don't have any ID, and it just will be messy and expensive and unreasonable when I have other means. A hundred dollars for gas is a lot better than three hundred for a plane ticket _each_."

He caught on to the actual reason. "You have ways of getting around, I am sure. We are not flying because of your aversion to it."

"You are allowed to think what you want. But I'd rather drive than have my faith in someone else's control."

"Would it really make a difference when I already have your faith in my control?" Loki suddenly asked me. I narrowed my eyes confused at what he had meant, but didn't question it. "But that… _thing_ is cramped." He said after a moment.

I said far too quickly, before I could even think about it, "You'll sleep in my bed if you are going to whine about it, I'll give it up." I didn't look up at him still but I felt his eyes on me. "I'm… not going to be in it. I'll be out here."

"I know you are not going to be in it, you are very prudish." I looked up at him abruptly, my face twisting at the fact that I was called a prude… a _prude_? Did he even remember—_fuck_, that wasn't even him. But… to call me a prude…

"I'm hardly a prude," I told him evenly, or tried to anyway. "Besides," there was a way to actually go around this, and I quickly found it recalling simple observations. I went on to say, "I thought Asgardian royalty would not have such lowly mortal in their bed. Must be not classy at all."

"I do not have the desire to lay with a mortal." He admitted to me. His eyes told me though that he sensed the mockery from my tone. Good. I nodded to him slowly and calmed down now that was settled. I unconsciously leaned against him and nearly flinched as one of the judges, Bruno stood up and tried to imitate a move from the dance that he enjoyed. Bruno was the funniest one but the most annoying. The British, condescending one was the best, but I forget his name. Nigel? Norman? It might start with an N. "Unless if that is—."

"I have no desire to lay with a God." Lies. All lies, but he didn't need to know that. I heard a chuckle escape him.

"That isn't what Lorelei had proven." I knew that was coming. Fuck. He somehow brought it up in every conversation of that mortifying situation. He didn't mention it the day of, _no_, but he always made sure to bring it up at least a once a day after. "Are you trying to say to me that you _do not_ want to continue what she had started?"

"Are you trying to say that you actually want to continue what she started?" I retorted to him, ignoring how my cheeks burned at the small mention of it. "You just said that you have no desire to do so."

"It will not be meaningful. I do have needs to fulfill just like any Midgardian man that you have bedded with."

"I didn't expect it to be meaningful. But I will not be a plaything, I'm not that type of person."

"You aren't at all curious to explore it?"

"Curiosity killed the cat." Curiosity killed the cat… really? That was the best I could come up with a feeble excuse following after? A common Midgardian phrase? Hell, I was beginning to talk like him; I needed to get out of this apartment more often… even if I socialized lately with other people. Him and I fell in silence that was tense and awkward. But I'd rather silence than for this conversation to continue. I glanced up at Loki whose attention was actually on the show, his nose scrunching up at one point when an actress nearly lost her footing. I didn't realize that his arm was draped over me. My head ached and fell onto his shoulder.

His arm draped over me was a nice, unexpected gesture, but I didn't know why it was there or when it had been there. Unless he was doing one of those lame-ass moves while we were talking about… _sex_. That was when a question bubbled in my throat, and I even asked permission before letting it out, "I do have _one_ last question that is neither about your past or your intentions."

"And it is?" He muttered. I glanced between him and the show and saw how he actually was interested in it. Loki was interested in _this_? I should get him to watch what other mortals were like by making him watch a rerun of the _Jersey Shore_ or just _Joan and Melissa_. He muttered something that commented on the actress' dance, but wasn't loud enough for me to hear him. I allowed myself a smirk, before letting it disappear completely.

"Why… are you looking for the quick way out? Why not actually… try and live with us for a bit? It just seems a lot of tediousness."

"If I stay and live with you when I know I have other means that will give me back what I need, I would rather meet the end of those other means because it is _quicker_. It is more tedious to live out and not take advantage." Okay, I guess I could understand that. In fact, if I was in his position and found another way to get what I wanted. Then it occurred to me, he was banished… how was getting his powers going to help him?

I didn't ask. I said one question and only _one_ question. I nearly flinched when I saw Nigel give a score of 10, the highest you could give one person. I actually felt upset that I missed the dance because of my tiredness and of the fact that it was because I was talking. I heard Loki mutter, "He said that dance had eloquence and it did _not_."

"Not everyone agrees with the judges." And with that, I had gotten up from the sofa and looked down at my uniform with disgust before deciding on striding to my room to change out of it. But… I only took off my skirt as I had shut the door, threw it to the side, before walking over to my bed and collapsing on top of it. I had to work for twelve hours today… I thought that I was more entitled now to _my _bed than he would ever be. I didn't even go under the covers as I felt my body shut down.

A long day of work with the fact that I had a long day of driving ahead of me, made sleep come easy.

* * *

_**Oh no, no one reviewed last chapter? But that's okay, I got a lot of favorites and alerts, so that's good enough for me. But reviews are a good way for me to know if you guys liked the chapter, and what not, and it makes me worry if I did do something wrong... I understand if you don't have time to review though, sometimes I don't either.**_

_**Anyway, twelve hour car ride with Loki in the passenger seat? That should be interesting... what do you think will come out of that? I know this chapter did seem fillerish, but next chapter... laughs galore. I am in the middle of writing it right now. An impatient Loki, a cranky Alex, Shaggy & Jay Z, KISS, and a cheap motel will be featured. Sounds fun, right? **_

**_So, I am doing Nanowrimo this year for the first time, which is next week, so I'm not sure when I'll be updating this again. But I'll try finishing Chapter 8 by Nanowrimo, we'll see. Hope you enjoyed it!_**


	8. Bonding

**_Review Reply:_**

**_Guest: Don't be sorry about being to lazy to review! I understand perfectly because I always have those lazy moments after reading, so it's nothing to be sorry about. But thank you for leaving a review anyway! And I'm happy to see that you are enjoying it so far. A tango between them would be intense, but no tangoing in this chapter sadly... maybe coming up though soon... I do believe though that establishing chemistry, background, and teasing between the characters is much more important before any of that, you know? Thank you so much for your review and honestly you did just fine reviewing, you managed to make me grin reading it! Hope you enjoy the twelve hour Laufeyson adventure! Hopefully it'll get some laughs out of you!_**

* * *

_Bonding_

"Okay, so do we have everything?" I looked over the bags in the car with my eyes narrowed. The sun was barely out and I was barely awake, but the grumpy prince strode out into the parking garage with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. I looked behind my shoulder with a smirk on my face. "Oh, you are such a doll." I commented, taking the duffle bag off of his shoulder before throwing it in the back. "I do hope you had enough time to actually wash up."

"You have taken most of the hot water used and you have woken me up merely minutes before we had to leave, which you neglected to tell me about." He stated to me as if to show that he didn't have time. I walked around to the front of the car and slid into the driver's seat. "Why are we leaving so early?"

"To beat the traffic." I said to him flatly. "If we leave now, the roads will most likely be clear. No one usually is on the road traveling on a Tuesday at 5 in the morning unless they are a truck driver." Loki slid into the passenger seat, closing the door. I looked over to him as he reluctantly pulled at the seat belt, pulling it too far so it would jam at its length awkwardly. I snorted before telling him softly, "If you pull at it so far, then it's not going to work."

He glared over at me, "This is foolish. I think I would be fine without the use of a belt."

"Famous last words before one is thrust into a windshield of a car. Put it on, or Princeton would be out of the question." I reached behind me to find my iPod in my purse, which was set on top of one of the bags. We only brought two duffle bags however, since nothing else was really needed. I smirked, pulling out the small, out of date iPod and putting it on top of the dashboard.

Loki tried at his seatbelt again and once I heard a click sound, I pulled mine on. "Do me a favor and get the EZ pass out from the glove compartment?"

"And what exactly is this glove compartment?" Loki asked me, with his eyebrow raising. A part of me wanted to torture and make him figure out, but another part of me wanted to get the hell out of there. I pushed the key into the ignition and turned it slightly, hearing my car rumble. My baby was my car and hearing it purr brought shivers to my spine, even though my car was only a cheap 2005 Honda Civic, two door. It was a healthy Civic though.

Shifting my car into gear, I told him, "It's the compartment right in front of you." Loki rubbed at his eyes tiredly before leaning forward and opening the compartment. "It's a little white rectangle thing that says EZ pass."

"I can read." Loki stated flatly before pulling it out. I drove through the parking garage and nearly cringed when I heard him slam the compartment shut. "Now, what would you like me to do with it?"

"Hold it or put it on here." I tapped the dash. He chose putting it on the dash and I think I would have rather it that than any other way. "Twelve hour drive. We should be there by like 6:30." He groaned loudly at that, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. "Kick your feet up, go to sleep, read your girlfriend's diary. Just don't groan or moan about how this is going to be twelve hours."

"I don't understand why we are not able to take one of those…"

"Planes." I interjected as he trailed off.

"_Planes_ and endure a much shorter trip than endure a longer one through your car."

"If you're going to be grouchy, I suggest you sleep because you're bothering me." I told him evenly, finally going on the road. I pulled up to a streetlight and quickly punched in an address on my GPS, set to a cheap motel that I stayed in once with my boyfriend from High School, two towns away from Princeton. "Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. I'll keep the music down to a minimum."

"It will be hard to relax when you are the one who is steering."

"_Drive for 4.4 miles and then make a right." _Lola said on the GPS, I nearly jumped at the sound of her robotic voice. I looked over at Loki to see his reaction and he was suddenly looking around the car in bewilderment. I smirked at him before doing as I was instructed.

"We are the only ones in this vehicle." Loki stated matter-of-factly. I nodded at that. "Who said that?"

Once again, there was a moment where I could be very cruel at 5 in the morning and tell him that I didn't hear anything. But, I wasn't in the mood to be cruel, so I explained to him my GPS and the woman that talked through to us was recorded. Loki stared at the device before accepting that this was to help us. Sometimes, I forgot that he wasn't from _here_. Then I watched him actually relax even though it was hard to when I was the one who was 'steering' and he fell asleep after a minute or so.

I waited until I knew that the GPS wouldn't talk for a while before plugging in my iPod as I balanced the steering wheel with my knees. The glorious thing called cruise control allowed me to do this, but I still worried that I would lose control of the wheel if I had let go of it. With a careful glance toward Loki, I put on the playlist I had made recently smirked to myself when I heard Jay Z's lovely rendition of 99 Problems.

I quietly stated along with him, "I have 99 problems but a bitch ain't one."

* * *

Loki awoke to a woman howling out god-awful lyrics and a loud beat that resounded through the small speakers, half the beat turned into static. His eyes immediately widened as he jolted up to see Alexandra singing along to what he would think would be music. Was she even singing? It sounded like tone-deaf shouting to him. "Honey came in and she caught me red handed creeping on the girl next door! Picture this we were both butt naked, banging on the bathroom floor."

Loki's face twisted at the lyrics spoken and rubbed his head as a headache began to settle in. Being amongst mortals, and practically being one now, was trying. Loki did not understand what Thor had thought was good by this punishment he had to endure because it only made his distaste for them far more greater than before. "But she caught me on the counter! Saw me banging on the sofa! It wasn'—."

Loki couldn't take it any more. Once he had figured out which button would turn off whatever it was that was on, he pressed, stopping her from shouting the lyrics abruptly. Alexandra frowned as her eyes slowly opened. She glanced over at him, her lips forming a slight pout. "Who told you could touch my music?"

"You call that music. I thought it was a cat whining along to a man's ludicrous talking." Loki commented, putting a hand to his forehead as he looked around himself. His eyebrow rose as he suddenly noticed the change in scenery around them. "Where are we?" He asked, scarcely seeing any trees, the clouds above them swirled grey, and rain pounded along the car. There was no thunder, no lightening, something that Loki was thankful for.

"You know, I really don't know. I think we're lost." Alexandra answered him with a slight smirk, glancing over at him. Loki, however, was not amused. He glared over at him with a scowl threatening to come on his face. The smirk fell off almost immediately as she looked forward, "You weren't asleep for that long. Four hours maybe? Could have been less."

"Delightful." Loki said, his scowl showing now as he looked forward, the rain was clouding his view and he began to wonder how his companion was able to see. Companion, he was actually calling her _that_ now? Alexandra was a pawn he was using, nothing more. He was practically counting down to the day that he could get rid of her, though Lorelei slightly hindered his plans of what he was going to do with Alex—knowingly, too. "This isn't exactly the most comfortable of places to sit in for twelve hours." He stated, shifting in his passenger's seat.

Alexandra sighed loudly, "Well, I apologize for that. You could always move the seat if you want to be more comfortable." She glanced over to him with a smirk. She looked him over, making Loki feel slightly uncomfortable. He glanced down at his seat to search for where he would do this before she stated, "The lever underneath the seat." Loki felt for the lever and felt a cold metal under his palm. He pushed it down at first, only having nothing happen. "Pull it up." Alex told him like she knew what was wrong.

Loki nearly gritted his teeth before he did what she said and pulled it up. The seat immediately shifted backward, making Loki actually be startled from how back he was now. Alexandra tried to hold back her laugh. Loki's muscles tightened before his scowl showed fully now. He bared his teeth as he said, extending his legs out more comfortably, "Why haven't you told me about that lever before?"

"I sometimes like watching you squirm when I have the power over you, Loki." Alexandra said easily. "And you never asked me either." Loki had to control himself to breathe evenly before leaning his head back. His long legs were sore from being scrunched and so close to the dashboard. Maybe now he could relax in her car with the obnoxious music she had on being off. However, the feeling was short lived when he continued to hear the sounds of rain pounding on the windows and the growling he heard come from his stomach.

Something about being mortal now was that he had to pay more attention to his needs, hunger being one of them. He even felt as though something press against his abdomen, feeling as though it was about to explode. He crossed his legs to suppress the feeling, but he had the urge to do something that he should have done before he left the city of… Chicago. "Do we have food in this death trap?" Loki muttered under his breath. They should have food. Alexandra was the type to enjoy her snacks throughout the day.

"By death trap do you mean my car? No, I don't. I figured that halfway through we'll stop at a diner." Alexandra said to him slowly with a raised eyebrow. Loki breathed in sharply, feeling his irritation slightly increase. "Why? Are you hungry?"

"Not at all," Loki said to her with biting sarcasm. "I had just asked about food because I was curious of it and only caring for your needs."

"Someone's a grouch this morning." Loki glared over at her at her comment. "Did you listen to me before we left? I told you that we'd be gone for a while with only one stop." Loki gritted his teeth as he squeezed his legs together, he began to feel actually antsy from needing to relieve himself. "I advised you to eat breakfast."

"You did not give me the time to eat breakfast, you barely had given me the time to get dressed and wash up." Loki snapped at her.

"Well, I'm sorry for that." Alexandra said to him, her amused smile slightly faltered. _That is right, my pain is not for your amusement, _Loki wanted to say to her out loud. "But you could have said something. I would have let you taken a couple of snacks in the car."

_Woman,_ Loki snarled to himself. "How long until we get to this… diner?" He decided to ask instead of scolding her. His legs squeezed tighter, one thing he did do was drink a full glass of water before he had left. Was that unwise? He was beginning to think so. Maybe when they would get to the diner he would be able to relieve himself there.

"We are on a highway, Loki. We might find something along the way, but I was hoping we would have an hour until then." Alexandra told him, trying to make her voice sound patient. Loki felt as though he was being talked at like he was a child. "Can you wait that long?" She asked politely. Could he wait that long? Hunger wasn't the main issue now, for now it was the fact that something was going to implode within him and it would not be pleasant when it would.

The answer was not a yes. It was a no, Loki decided. He could _not_ wait that long. The wait would be unbearable. "Not really." Loki answered her, mulling over it for a moment. He squeezed his legs even tighter together. Alexandra noticed this, the foolish mortal actually noticed this, and pursed her mouth before looking forward. Her brow pulled together as she frowned, but behind her frown, Loki could tell that the woman gritted her teeth at him annoyed.

"I don't know what to do with you." She muttered under her breath and her eyes scanned in front of her. She added to him, "Do you need to take a piss?"

"Pardon?" Loki asked her with his eyebrow raised. A piss? What in all of the nine realms did that mean?

"Urinate." She corrected herself, before making a quick decision. She put on her directional, tossed a look behind her shoulder and pulled over to the side of the highway. Loki wasn't sure about what she was doing, but her simple action made him feel not at ease. She sat back and looked over at him. "Go." Loki looked at her questionably, his eyebrows knitting together. What?

"Alex—."

"If you need to pee I suggest you do it now before we continue, we might not get to a diner or something for a while, so… go outside and well… pull it out."

Was she suggesting that he…? Loki glanced outside, the pouring rain was pounding outside of the tiny car, he could barely even see what was out there, never mind taking a… piss as she had put it. He looked back at her in disbelief. "You are not suggesting that I—."

"I am suggesting that. Loki, either you do it now, or you wait, but I don't want clean up after you if you have an accident." She talked to him like he was a child! What had given her the right to do so? Loki clenched his jaw, clearly irritated before she gestured to the outside. "It'll be worth getting soaked, trust me." Loki stared at her for a moment, took several glances outside. Normally, he would be stubborn and refuse to do something that he would rather not do… however the urge to do what she said actually was disturbing. It was disturbingly tempting.

That was when Loki decided on doing what she said.

He opened the car door and stepped out into the pouring rain, unsure of really what to do. He took several steps away from the car and onto the moist grass. He looked behind his shoulder to see if his… assistant was not watching his embarrassing affair, and she wasn't. She had her head turned. However, he glanced up at the sky where he somehow knew that someone up there was laughing at his humiliation.

Heimdall, perhaps, or even Thor, who he was still awaiting to hear a rumble of thunder from. "I really loathe all of you." Loki murmured before unzipping his jeans, which had to be the most uncomfortable pair of trousers in the world, and 'pulled it out' as Alexandra had put it before.

The rain pounded on top of him as he relieved himself, soaking his shirt and, really, him as he had done this. When he was finished, he zippered himself up, and that was when he heard it. He saw a flash of lightening in the distance, though he could barely see it because it contrasted lightly with the grey sky, followed by a boom of thunder, sounding around him. Loki gritted his teeth as the thunder rolled through and he turned on his heel to go back to the car.

"Yes, very funny." Loki commented sarcastically before he went back into the car. Alexandra didn't say anything to add to his humiliation as the thunder and lightening proceeded on going. But she offered him a bottle of germ remover, which she had called hand sanitizer at one point. He gladly used it and then relished in the heat offered in the car, it dried him off slightly and the coldness from the rain shivered off of him.

Alexandra also didn't add to the humiliation. Instead, she kept herself silent the rest of the way to the diner she spoke of. Loki appreciated that. She wasn't annoying at times. Alexandra though could be irritating, proved to be good company. She was right last night. Loki didn't think he could tolerate another mortal. She was enough for him. Though, would he feel guilty the moment he would get rid of her? If everything went accordingly? He didn't know, but he had a feeling that she would be lost at one point in this mess; her loss wouldn't mean anything to him.

After that moment, the drive was pleasant enough for him. They stopped to eat and he went by her suggestion to order a… hamburger—which he had never seen or heard of, but she assured him that they were good. She ordered something called French Fries with cheese and gravy. However, it did not look appetizing. When she offered him one, he refused. They did not talk. They mostly ate in silence. However, she had him take part in this act of 'people-watch' toward the end of it.

It was better than sitting and watching the rain, thunder, and lightening reign terror outside of their cramped vehicle. Loki commented several times on the women he saw, and the men he saw, and the waitress that served them. Alexandra took part in this, she commented on how they wouldn't survive her diner. They would topple over, she said, in the roller skates she wore.

Loki had seen those infernal things laying about the apartment, but he had not asked what they were exactly or the purpose of them. He knew that they went on the mortal's feet. This time he asked about them and Alexandra told him about them. He didn't know why she was so enthusiastic about them though, they were not impressive and quite frankly, he imagined them being useless.

He did, however, enjoy the hamburger he had eaten and it pleasantly filled him up. As he ate it, he found Alex actually grinning at him. When he had asked why, she merely pointed to the food in his hands. He shook his head, but managed a smirk to twitch its way on his face as he had taken a sip from the tea with ice inside of it. He thought it defeated the purpose of tea, but it was refreshing. Alexandra held up her glass to him at one point and took a sip out of her own drink, which was soda, something he had tried before but didn't enjoy.

They spent an hour and a half at the diner, before going back to the car. She didn't give the waitress a tip, which was extra money after the bill if you didn't know, because Loki surely wasn't aware of the Midgardian custom. When he slid inside of the car, Alexandra looked over at him, slightly wet from the rain that was still going. However, now that they were somewhere different, the rain had lightened up and there was no thunder and lightening around them.

"You seem like you are in a good mood." She said to him, looking him over. Loki propped his foot on top of the seat with a raised eyebrow. "You're getting used to me." Alexandra muttered to him before she had strapped on her seatbelt. Loki was then reminded to do the same, only this time being careful to not pull it as hard as he had last time.

Loki shook his head, snickering, "Do not flatter yourself."

"Funny because I am sure that I'm not at all flattering myself." She said to him with certainty, and then she ignited the car, which purred as she turned the key. Loki watched as she shifted the gear to the D. He assumed that meant Drive. Loki counted the hours that they had left though. They wasted an hour and a half and they drove for six hours before stopping at this diner. That would mean… that they had six hours left. Great. Loki shifted in his seat, his stomach full now from the food he had just ate and with his thirst finally quenched. He made sure to use the diner's washroom before leaving, learning his lesson from before.

They drove for fifteen minutes before Alexandra mustered up the courage to ask him, "Now, can I put on some music?"

Loki froze for a moment and he looked over at her as she held her musical device in her hand. A part of him wanted to throw it out the window, in the rain, so he would never have to hear her awful music again or her singing, which reminded him of a cat whining again. "If it isn't anything that is crude to hear, and you do not try to harmonize with it… go ahead."

Alexandra seemed almost surprised by this. "Really?" She asked. Loki found himself nodding reluctantly. What was he getting himself into? "Maybe I'll find something that you will enjoy."

"I doubt that."

"You seem to be the self-loathing type, you might benefit from some punk rock."

"I do not _loathe _myself." Loki corrected her quickly and shook his head once he had found her actually perk her eyebrows at that. She smirked over at him before she glanced down at her device, taking several glances between that and the road. "If it is this punk rock you speak of, then—."

"It isn't, I actually don't like that. Something classic for you would do." She said to him as she found the song, he assumed that she did anyway. She set aside her device on her lap as he head a group of men singing from the speakers inside. _"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality."_ Loki stared at the speaker as he listened. What… for the love of nine was _this_?

"_Open your eyes, look up to the sky and see." _The men continued on. Loki was half-tempted to turn it off.

Alexandra mouthed the lyrics as they went by, _"I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy, because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low. Any way the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me! To me!" _

"Turn this off." Loki said to her, not liking her music one bit. This was worse than the song that he had woken up to. Alexandra waved over at him dismissively and raised the volume, doing the opposite of what he said.

"Shush."

Loki gritted his teeth as he listened on, _"Mama, just killed a man, put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he's dead."_

"Alex—."

He was cut off by the man's voice again, being louder than last time. He didn't even see her hand swiftly raise the volume to drown him out. _"Mama, life had just begun, but now I've gone and thrown it all away! Mama, oooo, didn't mean to make you cry, because nothing really matters. Carry on, carry on, because nothing really matters."_

"This is ridiculous!"

"Loki, just listen to the song, it's not that bad." Alexandra told him, gesturing toward the front of her car. She made it back onto the highway and made sure that there was no one around her before she decided to put on the cruise control. Loki closed his mouth, at first feeling defeated and for a moment, he decided to give it a chance. But the song had gotten more and more absurd as it went on. The men were going on all different pitches, speaking of words that he didn't know of—some Midgardian gibberish—and soon enough he found himself cringing.

The lead singer was whining just as badly as Alexandra was with that song he had woken up to—if you could even call it a song. At the, _"Mama mia! Mama mia!" _Loki just about had enough! Just as he had done with the first song he heard, he reached over when she wasn't looking and turned it off quickly. Alexandra stopped mouthing the lyrics to the song and turned to him, her face turning. Loki looked back at her to flash an innocent smile. She wasn't as irritated as she was before, but it was clear just by looking into her eyes and how her jaw clenched before him that she wasn't happy about him shutting her music off again.

"The song is absurd." Loki told her, crossing his arms over his chest. Alexandra nearly gawked at him before shaking her head slowly at him.

She said to him slowly and honestly, "It's Bohemian Rhapsody. It's a… It's a classic."

Loki repeated to her, "It's absurd."

"It's supposed to be absurd… What do you suggest we do for the next six hours, Loki?" Alexandra asked him curiously. "Music would pass the time, but nothing seems to satisfy you."

"You should pay attention to the road ahead of you, while I will relax and watch you pay heed to the road. I'd rather you do that then risk both of our lives by you trying to sing… or mouth the words to songs." Loki explained to her honestly, earning him a slight glare for only answering her truthfully. He did answer her question, why was he receiving animosity for it?

"Fine then," she said to him eventually. "We could always converse like humans instead of being in… uh, silence." That was fine, as long as it was not under what she called music he was fine with it. He nodded in agreement with her, perfectly content at that idea. She nodded stiffly back at him and muttered an "Alright."

* * *

I was just about ready to pull my hair out when we had arrived to the motel, our destination. I practically ran out of my car, leaving Loki behind, and entered the building with him barely following. The stench of New Jersey made me sick to my stomach, and I wanted to throw up just from being in its presence. It wasn't that I didn't like living here; it just had too many memories that I didn't want to be brought up. I just wanted to get Princeton over with, find out this professor's hours, and then just… just leave.

I knew that wasn't going to happen. I just knew that I might be tempted to actually visit my sister at her school, avoid direct contact with my mother. She was fourteen, I was sure that she would be able to keep the fact she saw me to herself.

The motel I had gone to years ago was still the same, sadly. It was in poor shape, only had ten rooms that could be of use, and it made the Bates Motel look like the safest place in the world. My boyfriend at the time and I were looking for a place to get away from both of our homes. We drove and drove before stopping here. No matter how sketchy the people looked like, walking up and down the building, no matter how we watched the wallpaper peeling off before our very eyes, we still managed to stay here for three days before our parents pulled us out.

Loki had gotten the bags after our ten-minute argument of who was in charge of that. We decided that I had the people's skills to get our room and he had the strength to carry the bags, plus that I was driving while he sat there doing nothing, so I really shouldn't be carrying _anything._ Or that was the conclusion I made from our argument.

The owner was the same, only now he was slightly balding, his black hair that he did have was graying and I had noticed several hairs sticking out of his nose as I approached him. I told him we needed a room, and he told me the price that he had raised. I nearly gritted my teeth as I gave him my credit card, not really sure if I had hit my limit yet, but it went through. I told him we were staying a week and since the price of it was more than I thought it would be, I was tempted to choke Loki in the room later tonight while he was sleeping… smothering him would end all of this quickly.

I played with the keys before I met Loki outside. He held all of our bags as he followed me to our room. I had noticed Loki's disgust as he looked at the building. Wait. Just wait, until he would get inside the room. I was anticipating his reaction actually. We stopped in front of our room and I pushed the key inside of the lock. My nose scrunched already as I unlocked the door to reveal the room we would be staying in. I turned my head to see how Loki's eyes widened slightly at its disheveled appearance. "I couldn't afford the Hilton." I said simply before taking the bags out of his hands and bringing them to the other side of the room.

The room we had was small, but it was small enough for two people. The television was on top of a table with several dried up rings from glasses and cups. The walls were a beige color and I recalled that there was once wallpaper there, but then I saw the streaks of the paste that held said wallpaper. I glanced at the bed, to see it actually made neatly—last time I was here, it was not made at all. But a little hair on top of the duvet cover caught my attention and before Loki sat down on top of it, I pushed him away from it. "Alex!"

"There's a hair on the duvet." I said simply. This was why I hated staying in a motel or a hotel; you didn't know who had this room before you. I picked it up carefully, nearly gagging as I did so, and brought it to the garbage. "That… that could be from anywhere." I didn't even want to think about it because I did know where it came from, that wasn't head hair.

I was exhausted after driving and thankful that it was dark out, but also I was hungry again and I knew that Loki and I had to find out things about this Professor Kant before visiting him. We both looked at each other for a moment, his thumbs were hooked inside of his pockets and soon I took a deep breath. I slipped my feet out of my shoes before pulling back the duvet. I first checked if it was clean before sitting down on it. "The last time I stayed in this motel I was with my boyfriend from high school."

"I don't know why anyone would choose to stay here." Loki said to me, before pulling at the duvet and sitting down next to me. I idly played with the sheets as he took off his shoes. "I'm surprised that there aren't rodents milling about."

"It may be in bad condition, but they have their stands, shockingly." I admitted to him, chuckling before pulling the band out of my ponytail. My hair fell on top of my shoulders before I leaned my head back, while propping the pillow so I could sit up. I felt Loki's eyes on top of me as I did this. I managed a smirk, "What?"

Loki shook his head before folding his hands on the top of his lap. "You should wear your hair down often."

"Was that a compliment, Laufeyson?" I laughed, but I couldn't control the heat rising up to my cheeks at that. He clenched his jaw at my words, but didn't deny them as they came out. I told him after a moment, "Once again, I think you are getting used to me. You're acting nice."

"As I've said before, do not flatter yourself." He was flattering me, what was he talking about?

"Whatever you say. I'm actually hungry right now, are you?"

"Unfortunately, I'm starving just as I was before." Loki mentioned grimly, his stomach growled to prove his point. I bit my bottom lip before getting off of the bed to get my laptop to find the nearest place where we could at least get a burger. I had to bring my laptop with me or else I would lose my mind. "A… hamburger would be nice to eat."

"If you only knew what some people put in that meat." I grumbled as I pulled it out. When I found what they did to cows, I had half the mind to actually not eat burgers or any kind of animal… then I realized that I would never be able to become a vegetarian. I applaud those people who are able to. Loki didn't hear me… I assumed he didn't. I pulled out my laptop and walked back to the bed. "I just have to look up a diner and we are…" I should've known… I looked up to see if I had any connection to WiFi… guess what happened when I checked? "Fuck," I groaned before slamming my laptop shut.

Of course the shitty, smelly motel would not have WiFi connection. Why did I think it would? "Something wrong?"

Nothing was wrong other than the fact that I didn't have WiFi. Wasn't that important to have now? With all these smart phones being pulled out and all? I shook my head no before telling him, "I saw a McDonalds as we were driving. We'll just… get something there." That hurt. I hadn't eaten at McDonalds in ages and I was ruining my record.

"Do they have hamburgers?"

"Yes… yes they do." I said almost amused by the fact that all he cared about was that. I had to look through the old fashioned phonebook now to get into contact with this character… or ask around maybe. _Tomorrow, you'll figure out how you'll call him, Alex._ I told myself. I pushed my laptop away from me. "And we don't have to eat there, we could just go through the drive thru. It's a lot faster."

* * *

_**Wow, thank you all for the response I had received last chapter. It all meant so much to read them, seriously. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I was going to post it on Friday but I finished it early. I know I said that this chapter was going to have KISS in it, but I thought Queen was a better choice. I mean, Bohemian Rhapsody? One of my favorite songs. There's also the crude song of It wasn't me in here and I got 99 Problems, Jay Z version. I actually don't like Jay Z's 99 Problems, but yeah. **_

_**I hope there was moments where you laughed! Sometimes I would write something, think it's funny, and then have no one else think it is. But I did have a lot of fun writing this chapter and thought it would benefit if the car ride was in Loki's POV rather than Alex's. Sometimes I will go into Loki's POV, only because he could give some insight on his intentions with Alex.**_

_**I have a question though, at the end of the story, or as the story is ongoing, do you want me to make a playlist to listen to while reading this? I think it would be cool to do, so if anyone is interested in a playlist for it, let me know.**_

_**Thank you for reading! Until next time!**_

_**Tiana xx**_


	9. The Most Dangerous Game

_**Review Replies:**_

_**Guest: I actually choked on my water reading this because that was all I thought about writing that, Cas and his burger addiction :). Oh, I'm so glad you can't get over that image, that was the goal ;) Thank you for your review and happy you found it hilarious!**_

_**Solaheartnet: Oh no, that doesn't sound good! But I'm happy that you got to review still and thank you for it! I'm glad you enjoyed it and love their relationship!**_

_**Warning: Mentions of porn. NSFW—and a first time smut writer who is probably going to hide out for a bit because of her paranoia.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

_The Most Dangerous Game_

It was awkward.

We were comfortable sitting together on the bed, that was true, but neither of us talked, which made it a little awkward. He had Amora's diary opened up in his lap and I had my book opened in my lap. We stopped at Barnes & Noble and I bought a young adult novel that was apparently better than Twilight. I wasn't impressed with it so far. I eventually closed the book and took the remote in my hand. It was midnight right now and I thought about tuning into reality TV, but I wasn't in the mood.

A thought had come into my mind. I thought it was time to get our friendship to a different level… because we were friends by this point in time… right? "Aren't you tired reading that thing?" I asked him, stretching out my legs.

He acknowledged me with a brief glance away from that god-awful journal. "Hard to tire from something that is so interesting."

"What could be so interesting in there?" I asked him curiously, trying to lean toward him to peer over his shoulder. However he pulled the book to his chest and moved away from me, looking me over with his eyebrow raised. "Nothing that I could read?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Well, stop reading it," I told him, almost snatching it out of his hands and throwing it across the room. Loki furrowed his brow toward me confused before reluctantly closing the book in his lap. "I have something fun planned."

"Your ways in fun are far different from mine."

"This is fun though. Us mortals do this when we're bored." With that said, he took the book and placed it at the foot of the bed. My eyebrows somewhat perked at this as I pressed the menu button on the remote. I went to movies. "We have to see how much one is."

"What exactly are you doing?" He asked me as I went down the list. For a cheap motel, they at least had on demand movies like a hotel would… I scrolled past the comedy, the drama, the action & adventure, and the horror, although Loki might experience some horror right now. I only smirked at his question before stopping at the words 'Adult films.' I allowed that to be highlighted just for him to ogle at for a moment as I got up from the bed to go to the bag in the corner where the candy stayed. "Adult films…"

I nodded as I took out the bag of Raisinets and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I threw them onto the bed before walking back. Loki looked down at the bags of candy with his brow furrowed deeper. "Do you have something called pornography in Asgard?"

"Afraid not." Loki of Asgard stated to me. I plopped down onto the bed and glared over at him, hearing the sarcasm in his tone. He would like it, and would thank me after I made him watch it. "And I don't really want to know what it is exactly."

"It's sex." I explained to him shortly, even though no sex that I ever had was ever like porn. It was far too melodramatic; some took it to extremes, while others were just plain stupid… I had seen some stupid ones, where they tried to role-play and there was absolutely no foreplay before the big bang… Sometimes I honestly watched some just to make fun of them. Loki gave me a blank look. "Fornication. Intercourse. Sexual acti—."

"I know what you mean." Loki told her annoyed. "And I assume that we are going to watch others partake in these acts."

I said to him with a smirk growing slightly, "Yeah. Do you have a problem with that, old man?"

"Old man… I'm not—."

"How many centuries have you been around for again?" I asked him quickly, cutting him off. Loki's jaw somewhat clenched, but he didn't have a response for me. I looked between him and the television before sighing loudly and rising off of the bed. "Look, this is what friends do with each other."

"Who said that we are friends?" Loki retorted.

I chose to ignore the retort. "It is so much better than to sit in silence reading, or… look at each other… besides, tomorrow we may be able to sleep in and do nothing with our lives."

"We are going to Princeton tomorrow."

"You can't just go to _Princeton_. We have to make an appointment and go there. It's not exactly the easiest thing to do and I cannot call now to get the appointment because it's midnight and people are usually asleep."

"Well, why didn't you call earlier?"

"I had to entertain you because you have the attention span of a five-year-old and a burger addiction." I retorted to him, bowing my head slightly. "I'll call in the morning, but for right now I'm going to shower, while you contemplate on whether or not you want to watch a porno, but if you have other ideas on what to do…"

"I have other ideas." Loki said before reaching out and grabbing the diary off the foot of the bed, his eyes never leaving me. He was too sassy for me to take. I was getting tired of his sassiness. He didn't even take his eyes off of me when he opened the book, the little shit. I clenched my jaw before turning around and going to my own duffle bag to take out the pajamas I packed. I picked up my head though when I heard him say, "If I didn't know any better, I would say that you are envious of the attention I am giving this book."

My jaw shifted slightly as the grip on my pajamas tightened. Jealous… of a book? I did not need… or want the attention of the terrorist. "Your powers in observation are inaccurate."

Loki stated, "According to Lorelei, they're not." This was exhausting. I didn't answer him or reply. The whole situation with Lorelei was extremely mortifying for me. He knew that it was mortifying. "You are too prudish anyway to partake in any sort of activity with me."

"I… am… not a prude." It was almost painful to say that. I stood up from my duffle bag. I turned my head toward him and saw that he was grinning from the bed. His grin made me uncomfortable because I actually found it charming on him… and handsome… I found his grin charming and handsome… no, this was not going to happen—not again, not _here_, not _ever_.

Loki narrowed his eyes at me, "You wouldn't be able to handle me anyway." He sounded flirty and challenging toward me, and that tempted me to be flirty and challenging right back to him. Think of it as my instincts acting for me, I never thought rationally whenever he was around me—he left me thinking irrationally half the time.

"I handled Lorelei." That did sound flirty.

Oh shit, did that sound flirty. That basically just told him, I handled her pretty well and she was Asgardian, so what would make you think that I couldn't handle you? He might not be thinking that… Okay, he was totally thinking that. If I was thinking it, he was. Maybe that was my cue to leave now, to go into the shower. His eyebrows perked up at me and immediately I felt my cheeks heat up as his eyes bored into mine. I told him quickly, going to the bathroom, "I'm going to shower."

"Is that an invitation?" He asked me, and his answer was the door shutting behind me.

I turned the shower on right away and thought for a moment before stripping my clothes. My eyes glanced toward the door and I closed my eyes, almost shuddering as I heard his question practically ring within my head. Was that an invitation? No… no, it wasn't. I resolved my thoughts and a moment later, I stepped inside the shower.

Since I completely had forgotten my shampoo, my conditioner, and my soap in my luggage because I was actually flustered, I had to use the motel's complimentary, cheap toiletries.

A small part of me, a really small part of me, wanted to go back out there and actually accept the challenge he gave me. He probably didn't realize that he did. But he had, and I wanted to show him that I was not a force to be reckoned with. The other part of me, the smart part of me, the not reckless part of me, knew that it would be in my best interests to not do anything with him. There was nothing casual, I spent every waking moment with this… _man_ (if I could even call him that) and afterward, or at some point, it would get awkward.

It no longer mattered who he was though. I know that might sound strange, but I spent more than a few weeks with him and I managed… somehow to get past what he had done in New York—even if he didn't allow me to completely understand it. I meant what I said out there, that we were friends because… I feel like we'd grown to be, or we had just gotten used to each other. I mean, I am not saying that I condone what he did, or that I don't think what he did was terrorism because it was.

It was always at the back of my mind what he had done, and it somewhat scared me, no not somewhat, more than that… I feared him knowing that part of him was in there, behind the laughter, the grins, the way his eyes looked at me… underneath it all was New York. Sometimes, I didn't want to believe it though.

I closed my eyes with that thought, dipping my head back as the water from the shower head poured down. At least, they improved them since the last time I was here.

Do you want to know a secret though? As I was in that shower, I imagined him coming in with me. I imagined him crushing his lips against mine, pressing himself along me and pushing me against the wall, pulling at my hair, and making me do things under his control—only it would be one of the few times that I would allow it.

I cursed at myself eventually, holding onto the bar of soap as I smoothed it over me quickly. Why was I even contemplating it? It was frustrating. Everything was frustrating. This shouldn't be a conflict that I had to face; this should be the last thing I should have to face. I shouldn't feel _any_ sexual attraction toward him… but it was only attraction that I felt. Nothing else…

I couldn't help it. I closed my eyes again and the image of him coming in here with me came once more. I even moaned slightly and I squeezed the bar of soap so tightly that it eventually slipped from my hand.

But then… I froze.

The sound of a door opening and closing was almost silent and the almost silent sound made my eyes widen slightly. My thoughts from before faded away and I suddenly felt the steam close my throat and begin to choke me.

I failed at breathing at this point once I saw a shadow lingering outside of the curtain. If I wasn't mistaken, my fantasies were about to come true—but, shit, they were fantasies for a reason. I moved toward the shower curtain, as if I was tempting myself more so than I needed to be tempted, and then I raised my hand as if to pull it away. Although, that was like my permission to do whatever he wanted in his eyes, and the curtain was pulled away before I could even grip it.

And then… I witnessed déjà vu. He did exactly what I wanted him to do before; only it was I controlling him to do so. Once he was close enough, stepped inside with me fully clothed, I had my hands on either side of his neck to pull him so his soft lips would crash on top of mine. His lips on top of mine felt different. They were soft and playful as they were kissing me, he took my bottom lip several times, sucking it before I felt my back hit the tiled wall hard.

I nearly shuddered as I felt him chuckle against me. For a brief moment, he parted from my lips and took notice now how his clothes were actually drenched, his long black hair was soaked as the shower's water poured onto him. I watched as his eyes took me in from head to toe, stopping at my breasts for a moment before he looked me in the eyes. His green eyes always gave a slight intense stare, no matter the situation. I swallowed thickly.

His nose brushed against me. The layer of his clothing was making me sick. It needed to be fixed. My eyes glanced down to his lips eventually. I watched them murmur to me, "You will be screaming my name throughout the night."

"I don't scream anyone's name." I retorted to him. "And that is not going to change. People usually scream mine." My eyebrows perked suggestively toward him before I laid my lips along his prominent jaw.

"You have not experienced me inside of you yet." One of his hands smoothed down my curves, his nails slightly dug into my skin and I felt his hand along my thigh, rubbing it and pressing against it. I tried to seem not phased by this, but his touch made me shiver… and it wasn't because of the water. He just had that effect on me… and he knew that he affected me that way. "You tense and shudder away from me because you desire it." I did… I did desire him.

I tilted my head back, and I realized now that I was standing on my toes. I saw a slight smirk on his face through the streams of the water, which made my vision almost hazy. I smirked back at him despite how nervous I was. I challenged him, "Lorelei however is the better kisser."

That was it. I did it. The smirk fell away from Loki's face as his eyes matched mine and—

* * *

"Whoa." Tony Stark waved his hands in the air, the only one stopping the story of how I ended up where I am. I looked over with my brow furrowed toward him as he stood up from the chair in the infirmary. I was still slightly weak from the week before, but strong enough to tell my story to him and the other Avengers, and uh, SHIELD (though I think they were only listening outside), who had me in their grasp. "As much as I would love to hear the God of Mischief's sexual endeavors, I'm going to pass on it."

"You asked for the story." I defended.

"We asked about how you ended up helping a war criminal." The beautiful Captain America told me, his face was serious and almost hard as a stone. I smiled up at him and looked him over. He looked good in his uniform… like a proper Captain America. His blonde hair was short and slightly curled and he had these beautiful blue eyes that I found myself gazing into… as I said, Captain America brought a little school girl crush out of me, and I didn't mind that. "We, however, did not ask for the scene that you are trying to tell us."

My smile turned into a slight smirk, "It doesn't excite you, Captain, what I can do in the bedroom… or shower?" I watched as the Captain's eyes slightly widened and I heard someone choke on something equivalent to water. I glanced over to see Bruce Banner beating his chest as he guffawed. I tried not to laugh at Steve's expression before I glanced over at Tony, who seemed to be hiding a grin.

But then Tony cleared his throat as Steve turned away from me. "I agree with Mr. Do-Good, skip the sex, we have other things to listen to."

"But it's my character development!" I nearly cried out.

"I, for one, am happy for my brother!" Thor exclaimed to me, his hand slapping me on my shoulder. I groaned from his touch and lurched forward as he did this. "He is becoming more and more accepting of your kind, laying with one and even living with one."

"He _did_ tolerate me." I added on after him.

"He tried to kill you." Natasha Romanoff said from where she was, a hideous look of disbelief clouded her face. I frowned hearing that before looking over at her. I would like to forget that he did try. She asked both Thor and I, "Did you forget that? Did _you_ forget that detail also? He's still the monster that attacked New York, and now he's going to do that again, thanks to her."

"Natasha." Clint warned her, speaking one of the few words he spoke in this room. He touched her shoulder and Natasha seemed to relax then, it made me wonder if they were together. She only was relaxed around him.

I swallowed as my frown had gone deeper. Thor's voice came again, he did come listen to the story late and he wasn't exactly briefed on what happened. "Pardon… my brother did _what_?"

"I'm getting to that." I nearly snapped at him, though he did not do anything, or say anything to me. "I just won't tell you guys the rest of what happened, okay?" I did receive several nods before skipping to the next morning. "After that night, our boundaries were blurred and I was playing in a dangerous game." I prompted them, diving into what happened after that.

But I heard Tony say before I did, "We don't need the poetics." _Poetics?_ There was no longer going to be poetics after this point, Stark.

However, just for you guys, I am going to tell the rest of that night. Just, when I publish my story about how I got tangled with this God… I would be _sure_ to leave the Avengers' commentary out of it, because they did have a lot to say throughout my story. And honestly, they just ruined the mood.

Now… where was I again? Oh… right, here we are…

* * *

And his mouth claimed mine. It was almost like I challenged him and I somewhat did. The heat in the shower seemed to steam up, clouding our bodies as we melded together. My hands had found his button down shirt as he rubbed my inner thigh. I wasn't able to tell any more what was dry as I pushed my hand downward along his buttons, opening them. The clothing that was on him was not fair. He had me naked while fully clothed. His teeth clashed with mine as I felt his tongue dip into my mouth, skillfully exploring it and touching my own.

One of his hands found strands of my hair, though it was difficult for him to comb his fingers through. They found themselves stuck. His other hand moved along my thigh and that was when I realized something.

"I didn't shave." I murmured against him, moving my head back slightly horrified and cursing at myself… why was I interrupting this?

I saw how Loki's jaw clenched as he looked up at me annoyed. Yes, I could see how that was extremely annoying how I liked to interrupt everything—I was annoyed with myself.

"Really?" He asked me, I could hear his frustration with me. I looked into his eyes blankly.

I went to speak again, "I…" but my words were drowned out, they apparently did not matter. He shook his head at me before he pressed against me harder, his mouth once again taking mine. I guessed my stubbly legs didn't matter to him… my hands found his neck again as he took the breath away from my mouth. He bunched up my hair and I pulled him closer to me and I soon felt his finger slip between my thighs.

"This is a really bad id—." I gasped against his lips and my words fell short, feeling his finger inside me and moving at a slow rhythm. But it didn't stop me from leaning my body to his touch. His lips were soon gone and they moved onto my jaw, to my neck. My eyes rolled up as they closed, my hand going into his hair and moving his head more toward me. I nearly shuddered as I felt his finger go deeper. I felt his teeth nibble on certain spots on my neck, his tongue covering several inches of it.

This wasn't like anything I ever imagined—it was better. He barely had given me a chance to breathe, between the hot water pounding on us filling my nostrils and the fact he was pressing against me and doing things that my ex wouldn't have even known how to do, it was beginning to be difficult.

The rhythm he was orchestrating was playing with me, playing with me enough to get his name out of me. I spoke it softly, "Loki." The tone my voice carried nearly surprised me, but after a brief moment, I decided to pick up his chin. His eyebrows pushed together and I only breathed, "Bed."

Although, I almost did not want to move away from here, however I could breathe better outside of this bathroom. He seemed to be at an agreement with me and I reached over to shut the water off as he hoisted one of my legs around his waist. We didn't quite move right away. Before he was able to wrap my other leg around the waist of his jeans, I decided to take his shirt off so his chest was now bare. The shirt fell in the shower and I heard a growl escape him as he took my other leg, carrying me outside the shower and moving me into the room.

My lips hadn't at all left his skin as he moved us. He lowered me onto the bed, my legs were still hooked around his waist and my eyes took in his chest. He was solidly built. His shirts often hid his chest away from me and sometimes I had gotten the impression that he was lankier than built… I was glad that I was wrong. I sat up, my hands going to his belt to get rid of that, but he stopped me with a hand on top of mine. "Not yet."

Not yet? His words confused me but I had soon forgotten as I felt his lips go down on me. Just as he did with my neck, his lips went down further, touching the inner skin of my breasts, going to one of my nipples and moving his tongue along it until he felt me shiver against him… again, and then I leaned back as I felt them go to my stomach, briefly on top of my navel, before they had gone down further.

No. I wasn't into that yet. Before he even thought about it, I took his hair into my hands and shook my head. I didn't want to be teased any more, the shower was such a tease, and an unnecessary tease and I didn't want the teasing to continue. He seemed to get the hint because he didn't stop me when I had gone to his belt.

"You aren't the type to be patient, are you?"

My breathing was labored unlike his. I shook my head, pulling his belt from the loops of his jeans. I jerked him more toward me as I went to take off his jeans; the fabric was sticking to his legs, which made it difficult for me. But he had his hands on top of mine, helping me get rid of them. I expected him to be covered with underwear… you know, like boxers or briefs… boxer briefs, so you could just imagine my slight surprise when I saw nothing and was revealed to his length.

He might have seen my eyes narrow at it, and a shudder might have gone through me just thinking what that thing might do to me since it was the size as King Kong… After this, we were heading to the store opened 24 hours to introduce him to boxers… King Kong needed to be hidden.

A mental image of the time when I measured Jake's length came to my head and to be honest, it was quite small. I stopped ogling at it, however all I could think of was that one scene in the Godfather in the beginning when Sonny's wife is gossiping about Sonny's dick to her friends. Now, I could do that… if I wanted to, of course.

He only possessed my bottom lip as I pulled him closer to me, my hands gripping at his shoulders. His lips soon loosened my mouth and I had to move mine along his. His tongue managed to slither through in between kisses and I soon murmured against him, having a thought from something that I read about him, "Am I better than the horse?"

Loki paused, picking up his head as he looked up at me. I saw the frustration in his eyes and all I could do was grin at him. "The horse was male."

"That's kinky. I like that." I admitted to him honestly and I thought for a moment how I would like to hear about how that horse story came about. Honestly, wouldn't you be curious? I bit my bottom lip and squirmed slightly under him before I felt his hand on my thigh, squeezing my skin before I smoothed my hands again over his chest as I sat up, lowering them as I did so. If he teased me before, I should be able to also, right?

Yeah, apparently not.

He stopped my hand before it would go any further down him. His hand held it tightly and the grin fell off of my face. My eyebrows pulled together confused. He didn't allow me the time to ask as he spread my legs out for him further and greedily took my mouth again. However, that bothered me. I suddenly felt like his plaything, rather than a… wait a minute, why was I even doing this? How could I even do this? I put my hands on top of his chest in order to stop him from continuing, but my lips and my body worked far too quickly for my mind to stop them. My hands fell weakly from his chest. No matter how much I wanted to stop this I felt that I couldn't.

My thoughts were sprawled wildly within my head, and it was thoughts of pleasure and doubt and regret. I had gotten too involved with this now. The word 'no' would have done nicely right now, but it fell from my lips every time his lips found a part of me that they hadn't touched. I honestly didn't know what I should do as I followed his every move, as I grinded my hips along his. I conflicted with either getting out of this, pushing him off of me, and then collecting my clothes to leave the room, or continuing this and maybe regretting it in the morning.

Though, his hand moving up and down between my thighs betrayed my thoughts, his lips grazing over my skin made me want to stay where I was, and the churning in my stomach from anticipation, made me forget my thoughts so easily. They weren't coming back. He was far too persuasive for me to get up and leave.

I felt his breath against my ear and I glanced up at him, my head whirling. My eyes must have been glazed over with both lust and desire because he had grin on his face. It was a small break that he allowed and I honestly didn't know if I was either sweaty or wet from my interrupted shower. His green eyes shone with pure lust within them as well and just me looking into them was enough for me to shudder. "I'll get you to scream my name."

Despite everything, I sniggered softly, although I heard myself wheezing as I did. I told him hoarsely, "Keep dreaming."

"You _will_ come to me." He said to me knowingly.

I admitted to him, "I fake orgasms often."

I leaned back and pulled him on top of me without a second thought. I felt him go inside of me almost immediately, not taking any pause. I did not shudder or moan. I grinded my hips to keep to his rhythm and tried to suppress any words that wanted to come out of my mouth. His lips lingered on me and his hand moved to cup one of my breasts. He eventually pushed harder against, there was no time to be gentle, I guess according to him. My nails dug into his shoulders as I pulled at his bottom lip, biting down on it.

It took whatever amount of self-control to not give in so easily. I would allow myself to moan here and there, but it pained me to not cry out. He would growl irritated with me and would be more aggressive toward me. His lips found my sensitive places, along my neck, my earlobe and once he did I felt my self-control waver. With each thrust, my breath fell short and I grounded my teeth when I felt his name come out.

My forehead fell against his and briefly I opened my eyes only to see his looking into mine. His green eyes were always intense; they scared me whenever they were intense like they were. But for right now, I tried to make it seem like I wasn't frightened. I shook it off before I pressed my lips against, tightening my leg around his waist with the aid of his hand and took whatever he gave me, no matter what pain it caused me, I didn't care. It didn't just cause me pain; it also made me tremble with pleasure.

It all became a blur eventually. He didn't pull out after a short time. It went on for a while because of my stubbornness. He caught onto what I was doing though; he saw that I was trying to suppress my cries, my groans, and my moans, though I allowed those because I wasn't able to control them. He paused, going to my earlobe, taking it in his mouth and allowing his tongue to play with it. I shuddered against him and heard his hard breathing and his words, "Say my name."

I did. Softly, I breathed, "Loki."

"Not loud enough." He nearly hissed as he thrust himself into me again. I groaned from it, my hips were beginning to ache, I felt myself almost reach my peak no matter how hard I tried to sustain it. His lips found my jaw and nipped at it before I heard him say it again before pushing into me, "Say it."

He knew. Oh god, did he know. I knew I couldn't do it any more, I felt myself giving in. I felt the shuddering breaths wanting to erupt out of me. My nails dug deeper into his skin and I cried out his name, shuddering against as his rough rhythm finally paused. I didn't want to believe what just came out of my mouth. I felt my stomach do a flip in disbelief as I opened my eyes and looked up at him in complete shock.

Soon, I felt relief. He pulled out and though I barely felt it, I knew my hips and my thighs ached. Loki fell beside me, his eyes lazily going toward the television where the 'Adult film' category was still highlighted. I didn't know if I could speak. I heard him breathing just as unevenly as I was. "You sustained long for a mortal." He told me.

I laughed weakly and for some reason, I felt a flush of heat gather on my cheeks. That made me blush? He, complimenting my stamina, flattered me. "Yeah… you did too." I allowed my hand to go on top of his chest, feeling how smooth it was and the sweat on top of it. I felt the sweat drip from my brow and gross because of me reeking of sex. I just took a shower. But I didn't have the strength to get up and take another one. I just wanted to lay here. I looked up at him to see his long hair askew. He had terrific sex hair. "You never answered my question… was I better than the horse?"

"I… am not answering that." He told me between breaths. I didn't want him to. I probably wasn't better than the horse and he was sparing me from the answer… that was sweet of him. I sat up, leaning forward realizing now that the candy I threw on the bed before weren't here. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for my candy." I didn't bother covering myself like a lady would. There was no point to because we weren't exactly strangers to each other's body any more. I saw my bad of Raisinets, full and ready to eat, and my bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups sprawled out on the floor. The bag was opened. I crouched down to inspect it and said to him, "You ate my peanut butter cups?"

I took my bag of Raisinets from the floor before lying down next to him, going under the covers like a decent human being. He was apparently a decent human being, god, as well for he was under the covers. I took the remote in my hand. I didn't want to think about what just happened here. Though it might have been unsanitary eating candy on a sex-ridden bed, I was okay with it. I didn't want to think of it. "I was hungry." He told me lamely.

I opened the bag and popped a chocolate covered raisin in my mouth. "Awful excuse." I clicked the 'Adult Film' category. "These are better anyway." I gestured toward the bag between us. Loki glanced down at the bag. He didn't make to try one. He scrunched his nose at the candy, actually, but I made sure to take one in my hand and pop it inside of his mouth. I watched him chew the chocolate covered raisin before I noticed him pause and spit out the raisin onto the ground. "Was it necessary to litter?"

"That was vile."

"More for me then." I said pouring a few more in my mouth. I felt his eyes on me, confused green eyes, as I looked at the titles of the porn they had, nearly cringing at some of the names. I tried to ignore him, I tried to ignore this feeling in my stomach, and I tried to stop myself from feeling physically and emotionally drained.

I didn't want to think about what I just did. No, I didn't want to think about it. I wanted to carry on like it was a casual thing, not something that made my stomach flip or something that quenched my desires. I was mortified somewhat that he got me to do what he wanted me to do. The funny thing is, I think he knew that. "Alex." He said to me, almost gently. I didn't answer him stopping at a peculiar title.

_The Iron, The Captain, & The Hammer…_ oh my. Now, thinking about I think the Avengers would want to hear about the porn I found about them. That reference title and the pointless, over-dramatized plot now made sense. I read the description of it, only to have the remote snatched out of my hands. "Hey!" I yelled, reaching for it, only to have Loki shut off the television and throw the remote to the other side of the room. He took the bag of Raisinets off the bed as well. My jaw clenched and my eyes fluttered shut as I felt his leg on top of mine.

No, I wasn't doing this again. I turned my head toward him. "I'm not your whore."

"I never said you were." Loki replied to me smoothly. "We don't really need to watch others take part in this act when we can do it ourselves, do we?"

"We already _did_ the act." I told him, however his hands soon convinced me. His slender fingers wrapped around my arms. But I didn't want to. My mind screamed that it didn't want to, knowing that it was a bad idea. However, just as I did, I silenced my thoughts and felt his lips on my throat.

As I said before, the boundaries now were blurred; there was a point that I should have never gone past because I knew that I wasn't able to return from it. I was playing at a dangerous game and we both were… or I was the only one playing it.

Either way, he was dealing the cards now and I had to deal with the cards that were being dealt to me. I was no longer in control.

* * *

_**God, why can't I write this many words in one day for NaNo, huh? Sorry if that smut scene wasn't good, was my first time and I was paranoid throughout… and blushing slightly while writing it… (at least I admit these things, okay?!)… so if that was an inadequate smut scene… sorry… I was experimenting.**_

_**Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and that slight vision of the future of this story! Keep in mind, while Alex is telling us her story, she is also telling her story to the Avengers… who made their lovely appearance here. **_

_**But, wow, thank you all for the overwhelming amount of support I've received for this story last time. Honestly, you guys are awesome and I didn't expect you guys to really like this story, honestly. I thought this was going to be one of those stories that I delete because I had no readers, now I can never see myself deleting it. I honestly grin stupidly at my phone email or my laptop.**_

_**Anyway, thank you all for reading, truly. It means a lot. Uh, anything else to say? I don't know, I think I'm going to pass out now because I managed to shell out this chapter during NaNo (skipping class while doing so), which is another Loki/OC story Pre-Thor, which is really fun to write also. Oh, yes, important something I have to say, okay, so I'm doing video updates now on Facebook page, so if you want to like the page for that you can—I ramble a lot during them. And if you haven't liked the page yet, the link is on my profile and it is a fun time… I mean, I think I'm fun right? Oh, and there's also sneak previews of chapters and fun stuff. The playlist is up, I just have to put the link on my profile, but I'm adding songs as I go along in the story and sometimes they aren't always songs… if that makes sense. But I have to warn you, I like musicals, so there are likely songs from them (but they will have relevance to the story I promise!) and then you have the goofy songs, like a certain one…**_

_**Okay, don't know when the next chapter will be because of NaNo, but we shall see! :) See you next time!**_

_**Tiana**_


	10. Carry On My Waryward Son

_**Warning: Swearing, a lot of swearing, and mention of drugs.**_

* * *

_Carry On My Wayward Son_

"Hello, I'm calling to ask about Professor William Kant's office hours." There were times where I could make my voice sound completely unlike my own. This was one of them. I faked my voice well enough for other to not recognize it, since my youth I had practiced a multitude of accents. My favorite was my Southern. "I am a student of his, actually, and I lost his syllabus. So I basically had to go through a series of numbers to get yours, his secretary… Alice, which is you."

"Right," she drawled out. I felt my upper lip curl instinctively. She sounded so rude over the phone. "So, what year are you?"

"Freshman." I faked a smile as if she could see it. My role was a College Freshman, in search of her professor and going through unnecessary lengths to do so. Little did I know then, William Kant's class barely had a freshman in it. Someone forgot to mention that.

"Professor Kant is teaches Norse Mythology at an advanced level. He doesn't usually allow freshmen to join his course."

"I'm a special case then because I'm one of his favorite students." Cocky, freshman that goes to Princeton that was who I was. "Now, can I please have his office hours? I have a class in a little bit and it is important that I discuss something with him."

"He does not have any. He lives in his classroom, you could always discuss what you have to discuss after your class." Bitch. I would stay in my classroom too if she was my secretary, she sounded like an awful person. "Do you know when that is?"

"Friday?" I said unsure, shrugging my shoulders. It was a stab in the dark, really. No one took Friday classes and if they did, they were stupid.

Alice made a noise that sounded not human. I wanted to choke her through the phone. "Ah, so you are in his 3:45. Well, he will speak with you after class." How awkward would it be if I asked where his classroom was? I gritted my teeth as I heard her say, "Have a good day."

"Yeah, I'll try." I said to her before cursing at myself. She hung up before I could stop her. It was Wednesday so that meant I had to find out where he was located so I could get a hold of him. Irritated, I held the phone away from my ear, gripping it tightly before nearly slamming it where it belonged. I narrowed my eyes at the phone before dropping onto the bed, groaning. Someone's arm tightened their hold around my waist, and I shivered as I looked over at Loki who was sound asleep still. I wanted nothing more than to pry his arm off of me, but my hand involuntary went to his knotty hair. My fingers threaded themselves in it and I tried to comb through it.

I would like to forget last night, but it was going to be difficult to. I took my hand away from his hair and took the sheets that covered me to bury myself further within them. Sleep would help. Well, more sleep. When I moved my body before to dial the university, which wasn't much, I immediately felt the fatigue from the night before. It did not feel like any other fatigue I had before. I mean, my thighs ached more than they should have, they were definitely bruised, my arms felt heavier, and my finger dialing the number fell on top of each button limply. I didn't even know that I was that fragile.

My head fell on top of the pillow and my leg curled slightly as I felt his move between mine. This was all post-modem sex holding. We fell into this position, I, exhausted, he… well I don't really know. We were still tangled with each other, which was fine by me. It was a while since I fell asleep in someone's arms. Jake and I had gotten to the point when he moved in with me, after our slight 'honeymoon' phase, to not touching each other after sex—or just falling asleep before we would do… it. I swear it was like we were married and it made me sick. But I was never held like this.

It gave me a slight feeling in my stomach, that… I honestly didn't quite know what to call it. But, hell, I felt content just lying with him against me. I slept perfectly last night. His nose pushed against my back just as I closed my eyes. But they unfortunately reopened when I heard him say, "I heard you speaking before." I looked over my shoulder to see his eyes open. "Everything is settled, I'd imagine?"

I blinked several times before shifting myself in his hold to lie on my back, groaning when I had to push his leg away from mine. "Yes." No, not really, but I didn't want to tell him that we were going to have to go to his class and sit through it… and find out where it exactly was. "I wanted to get that done and over with."

"Which you haven't failed to do."

"You thought that I would fail? I'm too excited to be rid of you to actually forget that I had to do that."

"I could tell. You showed that excitement last night a number of times." That made me sick to my stomach. I knew that, I felt that in my legs. He smirked down at me before I felt his hand on my thigh that went stiff under his touch. He rubbed it in a small circle as if to relieve the tension. I tried to not seem actually feeling pleasured under his touch. I didn't want to be. I tried to keep my breathing stoic. "After last night, I doubt that you would want me gone any time soon."

"Think again."

He parted my legs, bending one as his hand moved along my inner thigh. "I don't need to. So, when shall we meet him?"

He was making ignoring him difficult. I could push his hand away but I didn't want to. I was content with staying like this all day, but I have other plans—plans that didn't include him. I don't know if I should leave him alone in the motel room all day, or take him with me when it really was something that I should do on my own. "Friday, 3:45. We have to sit through his class though."

I gritted my teeth when I found that I could no longer ignore. His hand inched up on my thigh and I stopped it before it got any closer. "No," I said to him firmly. A look of disbelief crossed his face. He didn't quite remove his hand off of me. "Last night was only a one time thing."

"A one time thing? You didn't seem like you wanted it to end last night."

"That's because I gave _into_ you last night. You were nothing more than a rebound and I'm honestly not prepared to be your fuck buddy. We have a business relationship… you and I, and I don't want that to change."

"Those lines were blurred a long time ago." Loki told me. I didn't know what to say, I didn't think I could say anything. My mouth did not have the capability to speak words because he was right. His other hand went to my hair, collecting a curl as he twisted it around his finger. I turned my face away from him, feeling uncomfortable. "At any time you could have said no." Loki pressed himself against me, his nose grazed the side of my face, and I tried not to shiver as he breathed along my jaw. "But… you didn't. It felt good giving into your temptations." Goddamn my lusty temptations. I leaned toward his lips, closing my eyes. "I will be sure that matters of business and matters of pleasure would be separate for now on, do not worry. I won't let it get in the way."

That was all it took. He convinced me so easily. My mouth parted as if I was ready for his lips to kiss mine. Even if it was morning, I didn't care. I would deal with the bad breath; it wouldn't be the first time. My hand moved away from his to allow him to do what he will, but it all soon ended.

When I leaned forward to kiss him, he wasn't there.

Nope.

His hand disappeared from my thigh and his other disappeared from my hair. I fell onto his side of the mattress, only noticing that there wasn't a body lying there. I groaned loudly. I was either dreaming that or… "Oh, Alex," no… no… no… I gritted my teeth before picking up my head, keeping the sheets on top of me to cover myself from Lorelei's taunting eyes. She looked at me curiously, a smirk teasing its way onto her face. "You haven't forgotten about me, have you?"

Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch.

Lorelei was a fucking bitch. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. I lied in bed like the gaping fish she often left me as. "That was a steamy night you had with the disgraced Prince of Asgard."

"Are you jealous?" I asked her, finding my capability of words.

"Of you? No, what he and I had—."

"No, of him." I cut her off through my teeth, angrily gripping at the sheets of the pillow next to me. I wanted to do nothing but throw it at her. Lorelei seemed almost surprised with me. "Every time you decide to fucking show up, you pretend to be him! I don't understand! Can't you just pop in like a regular… person?"

"I like playing with you, Alex. It is much fun watching you squirm."

"That wasn't you last night, was it?" I asked her curiously, because I honestly didn't know what was real and what was faked. I didn't want to think that it was she who was in this bed last night with me because… honestly, I didn't want to do that with her… I didn't go that way. Lorelei only laughed at me, shaking her head no. That didn't calm me down, that only irritated me. "So… you watched? Do you always watch us? Are you really that bored?"

"You two are entertaining."

"Why are you here?" I wasn't in the mood for her and now I was certainly not in the mood for anyone else now. My head was beginning to pound like a drum and… I glanced over at the clock to see that it was 10:43 am… I already wanted a drink of something. Loki was right on cue. He walked through the door promptly and his eyebrows perked up at me when he, I guess, saw me seething.

He pointed at me, "Something the matter?"

"Prompt as ever, my Prince." Lorelei said to him, her arms crossing over her chest, as she looked him up and down. I noticed the slight irritation on Loki's face as he turned to face her. The door closed by itself from Lorelei's doing and I shifted uncomfortably from where I was. "Tell me, is it my scent that drives you over here or your trollop's vulgar words toward me?"

"Your scent often drives me away, if you are curious to know."

"Yeah… same here." I added to her, with a nod of my head, trying to forget what just happened before.

"Quiet, you foolish quim." Did… did she just call me what I think she just called me? My mouth dropped and I narrowed my eyes at her in disbelief. "We all know that is not true. You can't tell the difference between your lover and I still."

"He's not my lo—."

"I said, _quiet_." I watched as Lorelei only needed to twist her hand and once again I felt something clamp itself against my mouth—which was nothing. My lips were sealed together and my eyes widened. I narrowed my eyes at her. "The adults are talking now, my sweet." I was not her sweet. I looked over at Loki pleadingly, as if begging to get this over with so I could be mortified just as I was before, but he didn't look over at me, or spare me a glance. His attention was on Lorelei… Well, at least I wasn't turned into stone this time. I kept quiet on the bed and looked between them.

Loki waved his hand dismissively toward my way, "She really is not my lover."

"I do not care for your relationship with the mortal. I have come with news to bring." Lorelei said, walking slowly to the lonely chair set in the corner. She rested her elbows on either armrest and crossed her legs. "My sister knows what you intend to do with the necklace. She is on the search for it as well."

"Am I to be expecting her any time soon?"

"She will be sure to not pay you a visit. You know how she is. She is still upset with you from when you helped me get Thor's attention eons ago. My sister may be weak, but she does have allies that are your enemies. Be sure to watch your back and the back of your whore's." Lorelei glanced over to me with a smirk on her face. "You do know that your whore has to survive for your little scheme to work, don't you? We don't want Amora to murder her." I felt extremely uncomfortable by her words and I narrowed my eyes at her confused. What was that supposed to mean?

I looked over to Loki, whose jaw clenched, his hands twitched at his side as if he wanted to muster something, but couldn't. "Get out." He nearly snarled toward her. Lorelei looked to him surprised. "Thank you for bringing us the news." He said to her tersely.

"You have not told her yet, have you? You do not think that she has a right to know?" A right to know what? I was panicking and when I tried to speak up, I couldn't. My lips were tightly sealed together, there was no way for me to talk or yell out something. "Oh, well, secrets are never good to start a relationship, my prince."

"There is no relationship, now _leave_."

"Why? Because I'm ruining your plans?"

"Lor—." He abruptly stopped when she snapped her fingers. She disappeared from our sights. My eyes somewhat widened as I moved my lips, taking in a deep breath. My eyes stayed on the armchair that she was sitting in. I had my voice back, I could move my mouth, but I didn't know what to say. Loki did not yet speak to me. I felt my teeth grit as I glared over at him. She could be saying words that weren't true, they all could be lies, but there was a certain look that had crossed her eyes. She could have been telling the truth. He was hiding something… I always knew he was, but what he was hiding, I had a feeling then was bigger than I expected.

"What did she mean?" I asked him slowly, afraid of the answer. I did not want to think it. Not after… I shivered. I was his fuck buddy. I was his plaything. I was his whore because for some reason I was his pawn in whatever he was doing. As I realized this, I felt almost sick to my stomach. I used him last night as much as he used me. I just… this was too much of a shock for me to even take right now. I didn't even want to be in the same room as him.

He did not answer me. I watched his jaw clench tighter and I was tempted to throw something at him. "Why did she say that, Loki?"

"Do not trust her words. She is a trained liar, Alex. You know this."

"According to her, you trained her to lie. She was not lying then. I saw how you looked at her." I told him carefully. "What am I to you?"

"Alex—."

"I'm much more than someone who's your chauffeur, right?" I nearly shouted at him, feeling anger bubbling through my veins. I took the covers off of me, shaking my head. "What are you using me for?" I asked him, standing up and going to my duffle bag. I didn't care that I was uncovered as I walked to it. I was getting my clothes anyway to go out. "I need to get out of here."

"Where do you plan on going?" Loki asked from where he was and I bent down to collect several items of clothing. I slipped on a pair of underwear, completely ignoring his question. I had a difficult time putting my bra on, my fingers fumblingly mindlessly as they tried to clip it back. My bra was on crookedly, but I didn't care. I pulled on a t-shirt. "Alex, there is no purpose in you leaving."

"I need to think things through, which I can do when you aren't around me." I looked at a pair of jeans and nearly cringed when I saw their state. There was a hole right where my knee would be… it wasn't fun to wear jeans with holes in them in New Jersey, in the middle of February. The winter here was bipolar. I slipped into them, jumping slightly to get my legs though. God, they were tight. I picked up my toothbrush and toothpaste, almost leaving without doing that and my brush to comb through my knotty hair.

Although I would have left without doing my hair, in fact, I took several pins and hair ties with me to the bathroom. Loki tried to go into the bathroom. "Alex, you are really going to listen to anything that she says?" His voice wasn't one who was concerned, or did it carry disbelief. He sounded like he was caught in the act of his lie. I squeezed the toothpaste out of its tube tightly. I didn't even put it under water before I began to brush. "She is a liar and you are falling into her trap."

"Fre did no' see' like fre w's l'ing!"

_Translation: She did not seem like she was lying. _

Loki's upper lip curled slightly before he took my hand and squeezed it so tightly that he managed to make me hiss. The toothbrush was loosened out of my hand into his and I watched my toothbrush be thrown away from me. I looked up at him in disbelief before opening my mouth and closing it. I wiped my hand against it to get rid of the foam that gathered from brushing my teeth. "Are you out of your fucking mind?" I asked him, rinsing out my mouth with water. "You owe me a new toothbrush." I muttered.

"I don't owe you anything." Loki told her with a laugh coming from him. But it all soon ended. "You have forgotten _who_ you're speaking to, Alex."

"I haven't." I told him, gritting my teeth and facing him. "We had an agreement. I was only to help you if you were straight with me and I have let _thousands _of things go. But… I can't let this one go. This is it."

"You do not see what she is doing? She is turning you against me."

"Why would she do that? She is on our side!" I cried out.

Loki clenched his jaw before telling me in a hiss, "No one is ever truly on our side. I have made a lot of enemies over the years and she is one of them." A lot of enemies? A lot more enemies than the whole human race, than Lorelei, than Amora? Than the Avengers? The Asgardian royal family apparently? How many enemies did he have… that was more than that?

"Are there more than I know of?" I asked him, my voice cracking slightly. I was nervous… I wanted nothing more than to get out of here, but the fact that other people or _things_ might be on their way to kill him… us… _me_… made me want more answers. It made me just want to stay and ask him everything. "Loki…"

"I have many." Loki said to me quickly and I think my heart stopped beating at that moment.

I didn't know what to do other than ask him, "Am I… am I going to die helping you?"

"You are not going to die." He looked me directly in the eyes. I was not going to die. There was a slight truth in his eyes that made me calm down, but that still didn't stop the fact that I knew he was hiding something—something from me that was major. "Now, stop talking because you are making yourself look foolish."

I stared at him for a moment, feeling his hands come onto my shoulders. He rubbed them soothingly to calm me down. But… I wasn't calmed down. Lorelei shouldn't have been the one that was holding me. If he hadn't left, I wouldn't be in this position. Something wasn't right. He played kiss, fuck, ditch with me, Lorelei revealed something big before, and he was trying to calm me down as if to make me forget everything.

I thought back to what Lorelei said to me when we first met, how she advised me that Loki was not to be trusted. They both were not to be trusted, but I think I found some truth in her words. I gritted my teeth before turning my body away from me. "Get the fuck away from me." I said to him, gripping my hairbrush and brushing my hair to get several knots out of my hair. What I needed was a shower, but there was no time for that. I needed to get out of here. Loki's hands fell from me. "You may… have provided a good point with Lorelei, but that doesn't excuse anything else I'm pissed at you about."

"Pray tell, Alex, what else are you bothered with?" I paused in my brushing, hearing the mocking tone in his voice. I could be overreacting, but if you ever had been played with all night, wake up to someone else that you think is the man that you spent the night with, and then go through hell because of that someone else, then yes, maybe you would feel the same. The mocking tone in his voice did not help him.

I tried to keep my voice even as I brushed my hair, my anger made my brushing at a quick pace and those knots were conquered through. "First off, your snarky attitude is bothersome."

"Yours is too."

"I would rather you not to comment." I told him coldly. I glanced over at him to see that he was trying to control himself. I could see that he had that look like he wanted kill me, or hit me, or something. "Second… where did you go?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You heard me, or you can't give me a straight answer to that too?" I asked him, faking a smirk to him before I took the pins I grabbed and two hair ties. I bit down on my pins as I twisted my hair into a ponytail before speaking to him with the pins in my mouth. "You knew that Lorelei likes to watch us, you knew that, and you left. Normally, I wouldn't care, but I woke up to 'you.'" Surprisingly my voice was clear, but slightly muffled, but he was able to understand me. He did not answer me. I twisted my ponytail into a bun before taking the pins from my mouth to keep my hair in place.

I went on to say, "I feel like an idiot… to think that was actually you, I'll admit that… but, really? That was a dick move, playing kiss, fuck, ditch with me. You might have done that in Asgard all the time, but some of us mortal women," I paused, sliding a pin into my hair, "circumcise and then castrate a man for doing that… for future reference."

"And that is what you are truly angry about? The fact that I left you."

My hands fell from my hair and went on top of my lap. I felt myself bite my tongue once the 'yes' bubbled up my throat. It wasn't the only reason, but that was insulting. He didn't care enough to stay… Okay, yes he _did_ come back but it was still disappointing. I swallowed immediately when I felt his hands on my hips. My mouth parted slightly as I brought my eyes to the mirror facing us. He brought my body against his and his lips were on my cheek. His hands snuck underneath my shirt and his cold hands made me go cold as they inched up.

His hands pulled my shirt up with them. "Let me make that up to you."

I breathed slowly as I closed my eyes. I didn't understand this. Why was it so easy to succumb to him? His mouth was moist as they moved along the side of my face, his fingers slipped underneath my bra and I felt myself turning toward him, but before I pressed my lips against his, I stopped it. I gripped his wrists tightly within my hands and then, grunting, pushed them away. I wasn't going to allow this to happen again, to unravel just as it did the night before. "No," I faced his intense gaze again, and did what I could to resist him.

I never saw him so bothered by me before. His green eyes scared the shit out of me at this point. I shook my head no before telling him firmly, "You treated me like a whore last night and then you threw me aside just like a whore."

"You did everything last night willingly." Loki told me knowingly.

"I did, but you caught me at a weak moment." I turned around to face him. His hands were no longer on me, his lips were pulled up in a scowl rather than being on me (and it almost made me stop what I was doing, seeing his lip curled), and I saw his frustration glimmer across his eyes.

"You haven't expressed this weak moment the whole three times," three? I could have sworn it was two… "You could have stopped it every other time. You, however, did not, so forgive me for misinterpreting your actions."

"You still do not leave someone alone the next morning." I told him evenly. "I would have been fine with it, if we didn't have Lorelei looming over our heads… so to wake up to her, and not you did upset me. So forgive me for being a little insulted and angry about you giving her the chance to fucking take your place!" It was no longer even. The anger consumed me and as I spoke I felt the hot tears come from my eyes. I was… I was crying over this? Before I said that he was a rebound and now I was upset?

My body trembled as I began to breathe heavily. I shook my head in disbelief and tried to keep my tears in my eyes because I knew that I didn't want to cry in front of him… I couldn't even cry in front of him when Manny died—I had to do it when my back was turned. "I… I got to go." I told him quickly, preparing myself to leave and not paying any mind to how he was looking at me.

I pushed past his shoulder and headed for the door, only to feel my wrist being grabbed from behind. His grip on my wrist was tight, almost painfully tight. "Don't leave."

It wasn't the 'don't leave' you would hear from a Romance movie, or read in Romance novel. It was a dangerous 'don't leave'. The kind of phrase that made me want to leave… but it was also the kind of phrase that made me want to stay just for pure curiosity as to why those words came out of his mouth. Maybe, I wanted them to be romantic, but I knew that they weren't. "If you leave, you would not come back and I need you."

"Unlike you, Loki, I keep my end in bargains." I told him spitefully before wringing my wrist out of his grip, feeling it burn slightly. Once I got it out of his hold, I turned on my heel to face him and took several steps away from him. "I just need my space to calm down, and I'll be back."

"You actually think that I will let you leave like that?"

"Yes, because for some reason you trust me to come back… I just have a difficult time trusting you." That was the truth. I knew he trusted me, sometimes, I saw it when he looked at me. He didn't tell me a lot of things that would really give me the sense that he trusted me, but he knew that I was going to do my side of the arrangement. He knew too well. "I paid for this room, Loki. You think that I would actually not come back and waste my money? Come on, you must know that I'm too cheap to allow that to happen."

"I know you will come back." Loki replied to me, before casting his eyes down at the ground. "If you are to leave, I suggest you go now before I make you stay." I nodded understandingly and did not give him a goodbye or a see you later when I turned around to leave. I picked up my keys and my room key before leaving the room, although I stayed outside of the door for a moment before I heard a loud punch to a wall. I closed my eyes as I leaned against the door outside. But then, I decided to not linger and headed to my car—barefooted (thank god for me having shoes in the car to put on for situations like these). I knew what place and one place only, in all of New Jersey that could calm me down.

* * *

I stayed in the car. I took the habit of smoking a cigarette for a brief moment as I watched the building. It was 2 pm. Around 2 pm, every weekday, the high school had buses lined up and waited for kids to come out of their hellhole to go home. I inhaled the smoke of my cigarette before holding it outside of my window. I tapped the ash away from its tip. I watched the kids file out of school, one by one, and they all headed for their buses. The young freshman I was looking for wouldn't be going to a bus. My eyes searched the crowd of walkers before they landed on a familiar face.

I smiled slightly. I might call her a bitch sometimes, but she was my sister. I stick the cigarette in my mouth for a brief moment before I put the car in drive and pull away from the curve. My eyes followed my sister and her friends, who I noticed now, were mostly boys, and instead of pulling up toward them and asking them if they wanted a ride, I simply followed them… for no apparent reason.

I was still in a sour mood… unfortunately. I did not know what to do other than go to the park my father took me when I was younger. The park was the worst place to go to because it reminded of him, but it also managed to calm me down.

Victoria and her friends kept a steady pace walking from school. They did not notice me following them, which I think I should talk to her about—I mean they should pay attention to their surroundings. I kept my distance away from them, but a safe distance where I could still see them. However, when I turned a corner… I think I saw the most shocking think I had seen in my life.

I knew the route to our house, so a detour to somewhere was something I would notice. I watched them turn the corner down an alleyway. My mouth parted curiously, and I lowered my sunglasses to see that what I was seeing was right. I put the directional on and pulled to the curb immediately. I stepped out of my car and ignored the parking toll in front of it, which wasn't wise to do if there were cops around, but I didn't care.

I flicked the cigarette away from my mouth and stomped it out on the sidewalk before creeping up against the wall. My brow furrowed. I stood there for five minutes listening to their conversation. My sister's voice hadn't changed these past three years. I hadn't seen her or talked to her these past three years, but she still had the same face and the same voice. She looked more mature, but that was natural for a girl her age.

Was it funny that I knew what my goody-two-shoes sister was doing right now? I chuckled lightly to myself, never even pictured her to be the type… Miss Debate Team. I only moved when I deemed it necessary. I got away from the wall and had my sunglasses over my eyes. I spotted a slight circle gathering at the end of the alley. I nearly rolled my eyes. I did this in the basement of Quinn's house and the backyard of others. They were most likely all nerds, thinking that they couldn't do this at home, or wouldn't risk it.

Victoria wouldn't risk it. I was shocked though that she would risk our mom to smell it off of her. I walked over to her group of friends, smirking to myself, feeling for once that day like my usual self—who didn't cry because she got upset that the man that she slept with left her the next morning and was replaced with a demon woman. They still didn't notice me as they passed around their pipe, coughing slightly from inhaling too much, and lighting the bottom up.

I stood behind Victoria who had her back toward me and waited until the pipe was passed to her. My chance to shine… I finally caught the little brat doing something that she wasn't supposed to do. "Hey kids, what're you doing there?" I made my presence known with that. That probably wasn't wise, but I took pleasure to see all of their little heads snap up to me. Victoria was frozen in her place. I didn't know if she recognized my voice yet.

If I was any of these kids, I would have ran. They stayed where they were, frozen, looking to me like I was going to tell on them. I chuckled at all of them, "Do you mind sharing that pipe?"

"What pipe?" One of them asked me. I tilted my head back and looked the boy up and down, who seemed to be innocent. I puckered my lips as I took him in.

I shrugged my shoulders, "The one that my sister has in her hand." I heard a _shit_ come from somewhere and I tried not to snicker when I saw Victoria turn her head around finally to face me. I smirked at her before I extended my hand toward her. "Well, Vicky, give it here."

She did not say hi to me. She did not say anything. However, she did hand it over to me. I held the glass pipe in my hand, looking it over. I gestured for the lighter that wasn't yet given to me and Victoria stood up reluctantly. My eyes never left her as I took the lighter out of her hand, however I had no use of it.

To be the asshole she remembered me as, I dropped the glass pipe onto the ground, hearing it smash into a million pieces. I even cringed as I heard it.

I glanced down at the pipe, kicking the glass with my shoe before deciding on stepping on it, crushing each individual piece that was alongside the weed that they were smoking. I looked back up at all of their faces. Shocked that I had done what I had done. I pocketed the lighter before I told them, "Marijuana is a gateway drug, kids. It leads to bad things."

"That was mine!" One cried out to me. Victoria did not say anything still.

I laughed lightly, "Then I did you a favor, if your mom or dad sees that they'd be sure to drug test you everyday. Now, all of you," I gestured to them, before tossing my head back, "Get lost… go home and do your homework like the geeks that you are."

They listened to me. I used my authoritative voice that I rarely used. I used to use it on Vicky when we were younger and she was under my care. I look toward her as she stood by my side. "I'll drive you home."

"I can walk home." She told me shortly. Her first words to me were what were expected. What did I think she was going to do? Give me a hug and tell me she missed me? I pulled a dad. I left without so much a word. "Why are you here, Alex?"

"Visiting." I answered her honestly. I had my hand on my shoulder as I steered her away from where she was. She reluctantly moved with me. "You know, catching up with friends… you… and I see that you surround yourself with the brightest of minds."

"They are smarter than you."

"Your geeky friends did not even notice me following them in my car, nor did you. And you all didn't notice me standing behind you for at least three minutes. I could tell that they're smart."

"Well, they're better than who you surround yourself with." She told me. I grounded my teeth and I think my hold on her shoulder grew tighter. "Is that how you know it's a gateway drug? You're into heroin now?"

"Do I look like a heroin addict?" I asked her honestly. Maybe I did today, I walked like I had fatigue and my skin was paler than usual. I also had red eyes, slightly puffy from… uh, crying, but I never did that. "I mean… I would have at least guessed cocaine, but I understand because you must think me as a drug addict."

"That's what mom calls you."

"And that doesn't surprise me." My mom always had the kindest of words to say about me. I did not let my sister walk home and though she said she would rather, she followed my lead to the car. I was lucky enough to not get a ticket, I noticed, and I watched her slide into the seat next to me. I smirked slightly and said to her, "I'm not here for mom, I'm here for you. I haven't seen or talk to you since…"

"Three years." I really did pull a dad. I heard the slight hurt in her voice and it made my smirk falter slightly. The only difference between her and I was that she was nothing like me. My mother always said that she was the pride and joy of the two of us in her eyes. I was the failure child. My sister was the same age I was when my father left. Eleven… I didn't realize that until now, she as eleven years old when I moved to Chicago. Well… it wasn't exactly a one way street… my sister was old enough to use a phone and she had my number…

I nodded my head stiffly before pulling away from the curb. But as I did, I asked, "Would you like to drive?" That was an awkward, stupid question.

I saw my sister give me a strange, puzzled look before stating, "I'm fourteen."

"You don't need your permit."

"Yes I do, I could get arrested."

"You were just about to smoke weed and now you won't let me teach you how to drive because it's _illegal_?" I asked her amused, with my eyebrow perking up. She didn't answer me. She turned forward and her eyes stared blankly forward at the road. I bit the inside of my mouth and found myself regretting my decision. Maybe it was best to leave things just as they were. "So… is one of those boys your boyfriend?" Another awkward question was asked. "They were cute… I mean."

"I don't have a boyfriend." Victoria said flatly. I didn't know how I should reply with that tone, but I nodded my head encouragingly.

"Good, that's good." I felt Victoria's eyes on me now, but I didn't look over to her. "Boys are stupid and jerks and they only want one thing because they are horny, little bastards." I didn't know where I was headed with this, but I felt it go down hill right there. "They are. They really, really are. And if I were you, I'd stay a virgin for the rest of your life because it's nothing special."

She asked me immediately after, "Are you high?" I wished I were… I shouldn't have wasted that perfectly good weed. I could use it. The most awkward car ride continued on for about three more minutes before I pulled up to her house. We were silent the whole time. We didn't know what to say to each other. I wanted to be a good sister, tell her I missed her and that I loved her… but I didn't think it would be right. She didn't get out of the car right away. She sat in it for a few more awkward seconds.

I tried to smile over at her. "You don't have to tell mom about our slight meeting. I would rather her not know." That was what I said to her? Don't tell mom? I was an idiot.

"I wasn't going to."

"How are you?" I asked her, not skipping a beat. I should have asked that immediately, I shouldn't have waited. Victoria did not answer me. "I… I doubt that school's an issue… you were always good with that. You have a lot of friends… it seems."

"Did you actually think that I would be easy to talk to after you left… without me hearing from you?" Victoria asked me. I gulped inwardly, turning my head forward. Victoria shook hers before I heard the car door open. I was waiting for a door slam, but I didn't hear one. I glanced over to see Victoria lingering in the doorway of the passenger seat. Her back was to me before she turned her head toward me. "You thought that following me and embarrassing me in front of my friends would make things better?"

"That wasn't what I thought."

"Then what did you think?" I didn't know. I didn't have a good answer for her.

I was going to open my mouth before I heard a male's voice come from my house. "Vic! What are you doing out there?" I sat frozen in my seat. My eyes widened when I recognized that voice… so clearly as if it were yesterday, though the last I heard of it was fourteen years ago. My eyes found Victoria's, who seemed to look back at me differently. I pursed my lips before narrowing my eyes at her.

"I'll be there in a minute!" She said, tossing a look over her shoulder. I caught a glimpse of him standing on the stoop, looking at my car suspiciously. "Just a friend who drove me home." The man nodded reluctantly to her, before disappearing into the house. I was slack-jawed by the time she turned back to me. I didn't even know if I could ask her why he was there. But she said to me, "Don't come back."

_Don't come back…_ the passenger door slammed shut and I felt something erupt inside of me. This day was too much for me. I shifted the gear and glanced at the house that was once my home before pulling away from the curb. I needed a drink.

Fuck.

I needed a drink.

It was only 2 pm, not even happy hour, and I was making my way toward the bar. The whole time though, over the radio, I saw my father's face and heard his voice from before, and fourteen years ago.

I had to pull over for a moment. I stared blankly forward for at least two minutes, contemplating on how I should take this…

But then, finally, I allowed myself to yell out in the car, beating the steering wheel angrily. I closed my eyes painfully tight when I felt the same hot tears spill from my eyes. I took my sunglasses off and threw them onto the seat next to me. It was all a blur; my blind anger was a blur.

I didn't know why I had seen my father. There could be a reason that was logical, a reason that I was missing, but I didn't see sense right now. My breathing was quick and the same headache that pounded its way this morning found a permanent place behind my forehead. I cried out, letting the sobs erupt from me. I didn't _need_ to know the reason why… I didn't want to know why my father was there.

I just… I just…

Fuck, at this point, I couldn't breath. At this point, anything would do for me. A part of me wanted to go back to the motel, but then Loki would see me like this. I didn't want to after leaving like I did. I would seem weak and that I depend on him—I didn't depend on him. I took out my phone, flipped it open, and looked through numbers, searching for someone to call… to talk to. I lingered on both Quinn and even Jake, but I didn't dial either of their numbers. I threw the phone in the back seat and felt myself tremble as I sat there.

My shaky hand was on the gear, ready to shift it so I could drive. The nasty, sad hiccups overcame my chest and I wanted to throw up. I wanted to throw up because I saw his face on top of my stoop. I felt… angry, betrayed, and slightly envious. He left me when I needed him the most… he left me when my sister was first born, and I had to take care of her when mom didn't… and now… now he came back?

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to think about it. It might have been a trick being played with my eyes, but I knew what I saw and heard. This wasn't one of those… illusions I experienced these past fucking weeks. This was real. That was him that was my father. I gritted my teeth and wiping at my eyes to get rid of my tears, I shifted the gear to drive off.

I knew what I wanted and what I needed. I was going to get that long-needed drink.

* * *

… _**This chapter had a lot of things going on in it… as you can tell… I would stay and chat, but I have to begin my day and I wrote this non-stop since I got home yesterday, I wasn't even supposed to update it until like next week, but you guys are awesome. You all are amazing, each one of you. The support I have been getting for this story is overwhelming and it is overwhelming the best way. Thank you, all of you! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter… even though it was slightly intense at times (next chapter would be lighter, and we get to see drunk Alex).**_

_**Alex's family is going to come back… that scene with her sister though, was the most awkward thing to write and I hope that went through because it was really supposed to be awkward (wouldn't you be if you haven't seen or talked to your sister for three years and she just suddenly showed up?). They will be an interesting bunch, let me tell you. **_

_**Thank you all for reading and I'll see you next time!**_


End file.
